The King of Kul Elna
by Decipher Philosophy
Summary: After exiting the Pharaoh's memories, Joey finds himself with a new destiny to find his own past incarnation, Jono. DISCONTINUED! Due to feeling thrown into chaos with writing multiple stories at once, I don't know what I'm doing so this is discontinued.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I just watched DSOD, and my gawd, the Prideshipping is real, and it hurt my puppyshipping heart, but it made me think of this. So hello to JONO!

Platonic Jono and Thief King Bakura, and other relationships thrown into this

I don't know how to make things angsty...

._._._.

"BAKURA! BAKURA! BAKURA!" Joey heard someone call out. "BAKURA! BAKURA!"

"Uh, hello?" Joey looked around the desert he was randomly standing at.

"Bakura! It's me! Jono! I heard you! Please call out to me!" The voice yelled out desperately.

"Jono?" Joey tried to run through the sand to find him, but he found it difficult when his feet kept sinking in.

"Bakura! Please! Tell me I'm not too late!"

"Too late for what? Hello! I'm right here! I'm not Bakura! But my name is Joey! Where are you! Everything sounds like an echo in this place! And there ain't any walls!" Joey looked up at the blue sky that visibly showed the heat waves coming in. Joey thought that he might be going crazy because he thought he traveled back into the pharaoh's memories again because Jono only continued to yell out to Bakura. He tried calling out again louder, but Jono still didn't hear him from wherever he was.

It turned out to only be a dream when he found himself inside a normal bedroom. He felt confused for a second until he realized by the sight of ocean waters outside the window that he was on a ship. Joey noticed something weird smudged on the window's glass. He got up to take a closer look, and he swore that it looked like a foggy hand print. He tried to wipe it off with his own hand, but to his realization, the hand print was made outside.

He almost freaked out, but then Tristan knocked at his door to remind him that today was Atem's and Yugi's big ceremonial duel. Joey instantly threw away the weird dream and the freaky hand print in favor for getting ready for the big day.

Joey didn't want Atem to leave after all the adventures and duels they went through that made them better people, but he wanted his best friend Yugi to win the duel, so that Atem could rest in peace. Joey knew that Atem had his own family and friends to get back home to, and it's not like it's forever. Everyone dies, and it took Atem 5,000 years without his memories to reach to this point. A few decades was nothing, so he went into that shrine only looking forward to Yugi winning and Atem getting back home.

After the duel, everyone continued on with their lives with a little sadness lingering in the atmosphere, but they kept each other strong.

Even when Joey discovered that his father went missing after he returned home. It wasn't unusual for the old man to be gone for a few days, but when over a week passed, he called the police. It took weeks before they found a stolen car at the bottom of a river. It turned out that someone forgot to take their keys out of the ignition, and his father in his drunken stupidity got into the car and must've accidentally sped into the water.

Joey felt his entire chest drop at the news when the police came to his apartment. His dad wasn't the best parent to live with, but he was still his father and they used to have sweet moments that he clung onto. He went to identify the body to make sure that they got the right man, and they did. He felt his body shut down for a second, but then it rebooted and the heated tears fell through.

He cursed his father as he cried. He already lost someone. It was just like his father to make things worse when that happened.

When he could relax, the first person he called was Tristan to pick him up because he needed someone. The brunette came by his motorcycle, and he hugged Joey whose whole face was red, and the hazel of his eyes were more apparent. Tristan helped him get home and eat something while talking it out before heading to sleep. Joey didn't want to tell Yugi because he just lost Atem, but Tristan reasoned that they both needed to grieve together, so Yugi and Tea were told next. Yugi cried for him, and they both held each other to keep the other up on their feet.

Joey then had to tell his mother because he needed her permission to keep his apartment. The two were estranged from each other, but the woman gave him permission, and that she would be the one to inform Serenity. He was fine with that. He didn't know how to tell her in the first place anyway.

There was no money, but Joey's paternal grandparents who had split connections with their drunk son paid for all of it and attended the funeral. In fact, the family that abandoned him and his dad were there to pay their respects. However, they were actually there to express their sympathies to the immediate family for having to deal with such a man. Joey didn't want to hold hands with any of them except for Serenity and his friends. He didn't give any words for the whole thing because he didn't want to cuss at everyone including his old man. He didn't listen to anyone who said anything because they were all generic.

After the burial ceremony was done, he walked away from the cemetery to breathe. His mother tried to reach out to him, but his apathetic glare made her retract her hand. His friends and sister felt helpless as they watched him disappear off into the distance.

Joey kept walking through the city until he found himself before the cold rushing waves of the beach. It was fall, so no one was there. He took off his shoes and socks, so he could feel the icy sand and the blistering winds against his tender feet. He threw off his vest and tie carelessly before diving into the white thunderous foam.

His whole body was immediately attacked by what felt like needles upon impact, but when he was deep into the ocean waters, he felt a serenity.

He couldn't see anything before him in the foggy water until two streaks of dark liquid flowed passed his head. He began hearing thunder again, and thought that the waves must be crashing louder, but as he looked on, he saw something coming at him like a train on its rails. Red dots could be seen from afar, but as they came closer, he could see that they were eyes that belonged to a dragon.

The dragon came at him, but when it did in its liquid-like form, it slowly shaped itself into a man of black skin and hair with conspicuous red eyes but his face was identical to Joey's.

"Who..." Joey found himself talking underwater, but he doesn't question it. "Who are you?"

The man only pulls on his arm to help him resurface. Joey automatically gasps for air and pulls himself to the shore. He didn't understand what just happened, but he ignored it since he had to get home or else he'd die of hypothermia. He grabbed his shoes and other clothes, and then walked barefoot to his place.

On his way, Kaiba and Mokuba were driving by.

Mokuba was shocked to see the duelist in such a wet get up during a cold weather like this. "Hey, isn't that Joey?" He pointed out.

"Hm?" Kaiba turned his head just to take a glimpse since he was driving. "It is. Looks like he got rejected at prom and was pushed into the pool." He stopped the car safely to the side to call out to him, "Hey mutt, you look like you went through hell."

Joey looked at them, and he felt apathetic to their presence, but he found himself joking, "Yeah, it froze over." He continued to walk.

Mokuba quickly offered, "Hey! Do you want a ride?!" But Joey ignored him, so Mokuba got out of the car to get his attention. He grabbed his naked wrist and quickly pulled back. "You're like ice! You're going to die of hypothermia like this! What were you thinking?!" he couldn't help feeling upset that Joey was ignoring his health like this when it wasn't like him.

Joey didn't care for his reaction. He just wanted to go home, get out of these drenched clothes, and fall asleep, but Mokuba pulled him into the car, and made him sit at the back. Joey didn't have the strength to argue, and that annoyed Kaiba. "What's your problem?"

"Dad died." Joey felt himself sigh. His shoulders and chest felt like they collapsed; his lips were not caring for his words, "Drunk drove off a bridge while I was in Egypt."

Kaiba found himself chuckling. He knew well of Joey's living conditions, "Heh. You must be relieved."

Joey knew that those were cruel worlds, but after being at a funeral filled with half-hearted family members who looked down at his old man, he just sadly smiled. "Yeah. So fuckin' relieved." He closed his eyes and fell into a deep slumber.

Joey once again found himself at the desert, but this time the person who was calling out to Bakura stood a few feet from him. The man had the same face as Joey, except his body was nothing but skin and bones without a jaw attached to his mouth. His body was littered with scars, and one huge healed gash was depressed over where his heart's supposed to be. His blonde dreadlocks reached midway his back, and exhausted hazel eyes appeared to be focused on him.

"You're Jono aren't you."

Jono nodded his head, and walked over to Joey. The teen didn't know what to expect when the man before him poked his head. He heard the man telepathically tell him, _"Please find my body."_

And then he disappeared. The next thing he knew, he heard grunting. He looked over to the side to see a fight going on. It looked like it was five bandits versus a couple. At the side was a blonde boy with dark golden brown skin and hazel eyes idly twirling a uniquely shaped dagger in his hand. When the brawl was over, he was approached by a woman whose fair skin became tanned after being exposed to the sun for so long. Her messy unkempt blond hair and snake-like green eyes highlighted the beauty she possessed with those high cheekbones and plump lips. Freckles kissed the bridge of her nose.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting, my treasure." She bent down and kissed the corner of her son's forehead. "Oh, got some blood on you." She wiped it off with her dress.

"Is dad doing his thing again?" He saw his dad pull the beaten men onto their knees with their heads down and their hands tied behind their backs.

His mother held her child close as they watched. "It's necessary that there is a choice, Jono. We did not choose to live the lives of thieves. Your father was wrongly accused, and beaten into submission, so he could give a false confession, and was flogged unjustly." Her green eyes shone with admiration and what Joey believed to be lust. "Maybe your father was in the wrong or maybe he wasn't. In this world we live in, we don't know who is innocent and who is not unless you put your sins in display for the public to see. But even then, is it truly a sin?"

The boy puckered his lips with furrowed brows, "Mama, you ain't makin' any sense." He shook his head sadly, which got him a light tap at the back of his head, that made him smile mischievously.

The woman giggled, "Sorry. I was raised to be a concubine of the current pharaoh, and my teacher was quite the cryptic, flamboyant man. Perhaps you'd understand if you attended school."

"Papa's teachin' me enough."

"And I'm de smartest 'ight, Jono!" His dad approached them. Only one of the men that he fought was lying on the ground while the rest were gone.

"Yeah!" Jono ran over to his dad who squatted down to receive a kiss on the lips.

"Oh, got a bit of blood on you." He spit onto his fingers to wipe it, and his wife used her dress to get it off.

"So only one of them chose to die?" Jono walked over to the body, and carefully turned it around.

"Yeah. I gave them the ultimatums of whether they leave or take a sack of jewels and tablet drawings with them to the after life. This guy was already old and pragmatic, so figured he rather leave with something instead of nothing."

Jono nodded, understanding the situation. The family wrapped the dead body in a sheet, did the ritual prayer and practices for burial, and then buried the man with the things they promised. They made sure to place a special powder that would act as a curse to anyone who dared to disturb the grave.

The family then traveled on to Kul Elna. Joey followed them, but strangely, the desert moved itself, and he was already at Kul Elna and Jono's family arrived. Joey took a look around to see plenty of stone houses that had bars at their windows. He saw a lot of bandits as to be expected, but children and mothers also roamed the place. He was surprised to see children entering a building that looked like it was a school. The kids were all kneeling down and listening to some old guy about how to read and write. Joey was surprised to see a little kid who looked like Bakura attend, and he looked...focused on the subject with an innocent atmosphere.

Joey watched him for a minute before returning back to Jono. He saw the kid's dad hug someone who was accompanied with a mother holding the hands of twin girls. "King Jibril and Queen Samar! It's good to see my little brother so well with his loving wife!" He stepped back with a joyous smile.

The king nodded, holding an air of royalty but strange kindness. Joey never pictured the king of bandits to look so kind. It just didn't fit him. "Zulema, I am thankful that you made it out of your ventures alive." He looked to Jono's mother, "Cosima, you are as beautiful as when my brother kidnapped you." They kissed each other's cheeks.

Although the woman joshed, "You insult me. The kid my husband kidnapped was a pale flower in comparison to the cactus that I am."

Queen Samar agreed, "Ignore my husband. He deals with too many oafs that anything can pass as beautiful." She smiled down at their child, "Jono. Bakura is at school, but it should be ending soon. Won't you play with him?"

"Kay." The bored boy took his chance to run away, and Joey can't hear what the adults were saying anymore. He figured that it was because this was all Jono's memories, so he followed the kid.

It was at a good time because the kids were let out.

"Bakura!" Jono ran up to the kid, and Joey could see the kid's eyes lit as he hugged Bakura with so much strength that the poor smaller boy had the air knocked out of him. But what Joey didn't expect was the passionate lips pecking to happen.

"Jono, it's pleasant to see you again." Bakura sounded very polite and smart like the Ryou who Joey knew. "But you have to restrain yourself from kissing me in the blue. A greeting kiss should be done after we say our hello. Otherwise I feel molested."

Joey felt himself relax, realizing that ancient Egyptians kissed each other as a greeting.

Jono pouted, "C'mon! I haven't seen you in months while I was risking my life to get some food and water for this rundown village, and this is how you treat me?!"

Bakura huffed at him, "You still need work in acting more diplomatic, or else you'll create needless bloodshed. I see that you've gained your mother's beauty, but the gods neglect to give you either of your parents' heart."

"Hey! I have a heart, n' I learn ta be plenty of diplomatic to get by."

"You butchered that sentence like you butcher a mummy irresponsibly."

Jono's cheeks puffed up angrily. "Yeah! Well...You're a nerd!"

"Nice comeback against a seven-year-old. You're twelve, but I bet you still haven't had yours circumcised."

Jono flinched visibly, and then grimaced, "Uh yeah! But you see I have this thing to do n' I-I'm really busy!"

"You're scared of the big stone."

"Why de fuck do I have ta loose some foreskin ta show dat I'm a man?! I've seen plenty of men with their foreskin be de toughest of de toughest! It just doesn't make sense! When I become king, I'm gonna ban that sorta thing!"

Bakura rolled his eyes, and just moved the conversation along, "So how was your trip?"

Jono's eyes glittered at the question, and he went into full story mode. Joey listened to him, and he could tell that the boy was lying at some parts he was bragging about, but it was interesting nonetheless as the kid went on to describe the hazardous dust storms, the many bandits and soldiers they fought off, and how they carefully took away some of the past pharaohs' treasures without disturbing the dead or becoming cursed. He described the different villages he traveled to, and what the people, buildings, and farms were like.

Bakura listened to him while the two walked along the village without any of the bandits bothering them despite not having any adult supervision. Joey could see that the bandits looked like bad news, but they were pleasantly cordial to the children, and diplomatic with each other. He saw a fight go on between two bandits, but their children who watched remained holding hands despite the bad blood obviously boiling between their parents.

Joey saw a brothel where prostitutes lured in men and women. He was surprised when Bakura and Jono entered the place nonchalantly. He followed them in and blushed at the barely clothed female and male prostitutes who appeared to not be worn down or soulless like the prostitutes he'd see on the streets at his part of town. He quickly followed the kids through a curtain to see a playroom for children.

Jono and Bakura immediately joined them in a game where they had to find all the missing dried body parts of the frog inside the room, and then they had to assemble the body pieces together in their correct places. Joey was really weird out because they were playing with a real life dead frog that was somehow preserved to be a toy.

The kids with the arguing parents and Bakura's twin sisters soon joined them in the room to play different games that were similar to hide-n-seek, truth-or-dare, and figuring out riddles. Of course there were times when kids would get mad and cry, but adults were around to put them in a time out before they chilled out and joined in again.

Bakura's older brother who appeared to be around Joey's age entered the room, and played the drums for the kids to sing and dance to. Jono was surprisingly good at singing and he ended up being the lead singer while the kids sang in the background.

Everyone was just having fun, and Joey wanted to join them.

The fun didn't end even when night came. It was Bakura's father's birthday, and as a show of gratitude for creating a village where bandits could live at without the fear of being taken in or killing each other, there was a festival.

Some of the food provided came from Kul Elna's own farm that was worked by the teenagers of the bandits who didn't want to follow in their parents footsteps. Their water provided came from an oasis. Other food and drinks were bought in. That's why Jono's family had been absent for awhile.

When the festival was to begin, there were actual security guards to keep watch of everyone so no blood shed would begin because of violent drunkards or people plotting. The bandits didn't mind this because they knew they were all underhanded and dirty, and they also liked that the security guards could keep their children safe from rival gangs as well. There was also the warning that if anyone were to do any misdeed, then they would suffer a painful, slow death.

Joey heard Bakura talk about how last year, a gang tried to take the opportunity to kidnap a child during the festivities and paid off a security guard to let them escape. But they didn't understand the fierce loyalty the guards had for the king. When this came to light, the children were first taken out of their custody, and they were held in court to decide their punishment. When they were found guilty, the leader's baby mama tried to plead for forgiveness. But when the king told her that her children would be given security and education with a roof over their heads and food in their mouths, she quickly spit at the leader's face, and had him dragged away.

The king just like Jono's father was both merciful and ruthless. When the boys met up with their dads, Zulema didn't hold back from giving his son a big hug and kisses over his face. Joey felt jealous at such affection that he'd been denied for so long, but then remembering the fate of Kul Elna, envy was quickly washed over by fear. His heart ached when he saw how Jono's mother affectionately ruffled his sandy hair and let him nuzzle his face into her tummy. They were just so happy. Joey looked over to Bakura, and Jibril greeted his children with a cordial pat on their heads or a hand on their shoulders, but the look in his lilac eyes showed a deep love for them. Queen Samar was the same and Bakura showed to favor her when he hugged her side, then held her hand as he told her with bright lilac eyes of how his day went.

Joey watched as a huge bonfire was created and dishes of food was served by the prostitutes. The heavy eaters got a larger plate that was served by two, and all of them were sitting at strategic positions, so they couldn't see the other bigger guys' dish and feel like they don't have enough.

Before alcohol was served, the king first had the pregnant women come line up before him, and be blessed for a healthy birth. Jono's mother was one of them.

Then the children were to be lined up and be blessed for a good future. Then the king gave his thanks to his hard workers for making this celebration possible.

The drinks were served and everyone went wild with cheers and dances. The kids all ran off to play around the bond fire that had a fence around it so they wouldn't fall in.

Joey watched as Jono crouched down with his hands on the ground, and he howled like a wolf. He then began chasing the other kids like a dog. Everyone laughed and the kids ran away from him. Other boys followed along and it was just a zoo with the boys chasing, and wrestling each other. Adults made sure their roughhousing didn't go too far.

Then the next thing people knew, the boys merged themselves in the crowd, and in a few minutes, girls were screaming. The boys came out of the crowd carrying females with them. Joey looked for Jono, and was surprised to see that instead of carrying a girl, he was dressed in girl clothing and had Bakura's older brother carry him to the bond fire. Laughter thundered in the village as Jono modeled beside the laughing or weirded out girls. Apparently, it was supposed to be a beauty contest. The crowd began chanting "Queen! Queen! Queen!" which Jono happily danced to until his mother took him away. His parents were flushed from laughter and Bakura's father looked embarrassed for the little boy. Bakura and his mother just shook their heads with endearing smiles while the twin sisters were happily chattering with Jono about whether he could pass for a queen or not compared to their mother.

Joey blushed out of embarrassment when he remembered when he tried to win a female beauty contest by cross dressing. Tristan never let him lived it down.

The night went on merrily, and the kids were put to sleep early while the drunken adults were left to sleep wherever they landed. The guards took turn watching over them to make sure nothing funny happens.

After that night, everything seemed to fast forward a bit. More thieves came to the village but none of them left. It turned out that because of the war that was taking over, it was too dangerous to roam around without being caught and killed by soldiers from either side. Kul Elna was strategically far from potential battlefields, and with how the pharaoh would need every soldier available, they didn't think he'd take the opportunity to take them all down.

Conflicts between rival gangs were a problem, so Joey saw King Jibril spend plenty of time creative diplomatic agreements and punishing those who dared defy his laws. His queen and Jono's parents helped him with these arrangements, and Jono was present, so he could learn how to be a good king of thieves.

"You have my respect like usual Uncle Jibril of how you can handle all this calmly. I wanted ta sock two of them in de face fer their rudeness." The king and Jono were currently taking a stroll across the crowded village.

"Oh really? You looked rather calm and diplomatic through the whole ordeal." Joey swore he was never going to get used to that calm, kind tone from the king.

Jono grinned smugly with arms crossed, "Of course! I can't let de enemy know what I'm thinkin'! I'm a hotblooded scorpion, but I know when ta poison meh foes! Papa's been teachin' a ton since we left! I know how ta read de stars n' find fresh water!"

"You definitely have matured the last time I saw you. Bakura secretly admires you."

Jono's eyes sparkled at the news. "Really?"

"Oh yes. He likes to pick on you so you don't laze off your duties, but he sees the big heart you have, the justice that resides in your very soul, and the never ending potential in your treasure eyes. I can see that you will definitely be the true king of thieves once the gods are done with my sins."

Jono looked up at his uncle with admiration and love. He then looked forward with straighter shoulders and a raised chest. The two then went to the training grounds that was made to teach the helpless to protect their loved ones. Little boys, girls, and women were learning to fight with wooden tools. The more experienced ones held real blades.

The twelve-year-old was given a genuine sword by his father who was present there. Cosina held onto hers and Joey thought that he would watch Jono be trained by his mother, but instead, he found himself in Jono's body, and he could see, feel, hear, touch and sense so much more as if they became one. Joey felt his own body move with Jono's, and at first it felt so alien to him, but when he got the hang of it, he truly felt like he was Jono.

After the training was done, Joey found himself as just himself again, but he still felt the experience of being in such intense training. He hoped his body in the real world wasn't destroying anything though.

The rest of the week was similar to that until Bakura was let out of school for the day. Jono always ran over to him to play, or for the younger boy to teach him what the school had taught him so far. Joey inspected Bakura closer since he truly was different from the Bakura he knew. This one was a lot more calm and he could be vicious but he was never spiteful when he was wronged. Instead he acted all matter-of-fact and just moved on to solving the problem in a quick and efficient way. Joey didn't know what to make of this tuned down version of Bakura, but he did seem to be a good kid.

Joey began to forget a massacre was going to take place until everything seemed to slow down one night while the two boys were still awake and lying beside each other. They were near the door because they wanted to see the stars.

"So you're going to become a teacher?" Jono asked in the darkness.

"It's a resourceful job. Besides, our teacher is in need of retirement, so someone has to step up to the mantle."

"Heh, so we'll both be here in Kul Elna since I'll be the next king of thieves."

"Yes. Unfortunately."

"Hey! I can be a good king!"

"I do not underestimate your ability in being an effective leader. I only worry that you will have to fill in acts of bravado to hide your stupidity."

"That's not what your daddy said you think about me."

"Yes well, opinions differ as they grow."

Jono lightly hit Bakura's arm. "You're such a dork."

"And you're the stepping stone downward."

"Nerd." Jono cuddled up to Bakura, and the two slept soundly together.

Everything turned dark for Joey, but he was immediately shaken when he heard Cosina's and Samar's hushed yet worried tone. "Jono. Bakura. Wake up. We have to move."

Joey heard the rushed footsteps and clanging of metals behind him before the building and everything else became clear. The boys were confused when they slowly woke up.

Zulema hurriedly told Samar, "Quick! Take the boys to the shelter! More are approaching!"

That startled the kids wide awake.

"Mom?" Jono looked to his mother who had a sword in her hand and a helmet on her head.

"Go with Queen Samar, Jono. I'll explain everything when it's all over." She caressed her son's cheek, and for some reason, Joey felt her touch against him.

Jono looked reluctant, but he obeyed orders. He held Bakura's mother's hand and the three of them ran off. Jono looked around to see Egyptian soldiers fighting against the armed bandits. More were approaching from all side by charging in with their horses or climbing down the stone cliffs. Other children with their guardians were trying to reach the shelter without being caught in the bloodshed.

Something bright lit up in the sky, and to their horror, the lights were arrows lit on fire. Samar quickly took the children into one of the buildings.

"Mom!" Bakura cried out when he could see soldiers creeping forward from the shadows.

Samar quickly unarmed one of them, and took the sword that she used to slit their throats smoothly. Jono threw his dagger cleanly through the skull of a soldier that she missed. Samar took it out and handed it back to him.

Joey remained outside of the building, and for some reason, he could clearly see what was happening to other people. He then heard the older Jono's voice, _"Through using a spell, I saw the death of our families."_

While the children were hiding from the flames, Joey witnessed Cosina unleash a wyvern from her soul that took care of the arrows above, yet the sorcerers on the other side cast their spells to constrict her movements. This allowed for a few of the arrows to pass through and lit the village on fire. Although this was supposed to kill a few of the bandits, they were far too experienced with life and death situations than the soldiers that they easily used them as shields.

Bakura watched this horror before being pulled by his mother to reach the shelter.

Jibril with his son and Zulema fought off the soldiers while protecting Cosina who was able to break free from the sorcerers' control and kill off the archers and the remaining soldiers coming down the cliffs. Yet that upperhand was only short lived when several lightning bolts immediately struck from above. Her scream made Jono turn around but Samar kept him moving. However, she had to stop when a man trying to protect a pregnant woman got his throat slit. Samar let go of the children to stop the soldier from getting to the woman, but she was too late to stop the blade piercing through her womb.

Jono and Bakura were frozen in place, but Samar charged at the soldier, took his sword and chopped off his head until it came right off before crying out in pain. She looked back at the children with tears of anguish, and with her bloodied hands, continued to pull them to shelter. It didn't take any longer to reach it, and Bakura's younger twin sisters were already there with their aunt. Samar looked around, and was further heartbroken, "They're not all here."

The aunt tearfully replied, "Some of the soldiers were able to sneak into the houses through their black magic before a guard realize what what was going on."

Joey covered his mouth and couldn't hold back the pain he felt when Samar dropped to her knees and cried out her anguish.

He didn't want to see anymore, but he found himself go back in time to when Cosina just fell to the ground burnt by the lightning bolts.

"COSINAAAAAAA!" Zulema yelled out to his wife, and he cut through anyone to get to her. The soldiers feared his ferocity, so stepped away to allow him to hold his true love in his arms. Cosina's green eyes were faded emeralds, and her body shocked her husband, but he did not dare let her go. "Cosina...Cosina, please speak to me. Please. We were supposed to see him one last time together with our son. One last time. Please don't break that promise!" He pleaded, but his wife was nothing more than a doll-like corpse.

Zulema roared out to the sky that the whole village could hear his agony, and that was followed by the roars of his fellow bandits and warriors who felt the same.

The loving husband and father looked down at his lifeless true love and kissed her lips before lying her gently on the ground. He then stood up once again with his sword and slaughtered the soldiers with greater ferocity, but that unfortunately wasn't enough. They were heavily outnumbered since many thieves weren't strong at heart to handle a raid against them and that led them to their demise. The shelter was only known by the women and prostitutes.

Jibril saw his oldest son drop to his death, but he continued on to kill with Zulema at his side. Joey wanted them to win. Over a hundred soldiers dropped to their death, and less than ten were still alive. The two thieves were surrounded, and seeing that it was just them, Aknadin finally rode into the village with his sorcerers.

Zulema and Jibril knew that this must've been the work of the pharaoh, but Joey could see it in their eyes that they recognized the man before them with disgust. "Aknadin?" Zulema hoarsely whispered before falling into a rage again with Jibril. "AKNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADIN!" They murdered the remaining soldiers and they were able to throw daggers at the horses throats which threw the sorcerers off, but that was all they could do before the lack of blood finally exhausted their strengths, and the gods took their souls away.

Joey felt his heart seized up. "No!" He ran over to them to help them get back on their feet to kill this son of a bitch, but Joey returned back to the shelter to find Bakura, his sisters, aunt and Jono try to comfort the sobbing Samar while everyone else was crying out of fear. Hours must've went by since, and Joey didn't want to see anymore. He wanted to stop looking. He understood that this was a village of thieves, but they were no different from the streets he grew up in. A lot of these people were put in unfortunate circumstances, especially the kids. They didn't deserve to die for the sins of their parents. They didn't deserve to suffer like this.

Then the next thing he and everyone else knew, the earth shook for a few seconds. They thought it was a normal earthquake or an explosion, but children began screaming when their bodies morphed. Legs of a spider grew out of one of them. Another had her eyes pop out and her teeth turned sharp. Bakura watched as his twin sisters merged into Siamese twins and their body expanded into a beast.

Ghosts suddenly filled the room, which drove these child-turned-monsters insane that they began killing the adults and attacking each other. Samar held Bakura close to her and reached out to Jono, but even he began to produce black scales all over his body. Joey wanted to do something, but he couldn't touch Jono who launched into the bloodbath.

Joey retched at the sight of Jono splitting Bakura's sisters apart. Their blood splatted across the room. Samar tried to pull Bakura out of there, but someone's claw shut out and plunged through her back. She dropped dead in an instant that Bakura stood beside her corpse dumbstruck. In slow seconds, he felt his own rage drive his mind insane enough to unleash the beast, Diabound, from his soul to kill everyone.

The beast proved to be powerful as it sliced through all of them deftly, except for Jono who fought the beast with equal strength. Him and Bakura continued to fight until Jono was able to release a powerful inferno blast that made the monster disappear.

Bakura dropped to the ground, clutching his bloody shirt. Joey quickly got in between him and Jono who stared at Bakura with his red eyes. The spirits continued to swirl around them, chanting for the dragon child to kill Bakura. Jono launched himself.

"STOP!" Joey pleaded, but he was surprised to see Jono hugging Bakura.

Bakura looked up to see Jono's distant, fearful hazel eyes. "What the fuck happened? Bakura...What the fuck did I do?"

The smarter of the two broke into tears and screamed. Jono continued to hold onto Bakura for he was still too shaken to be bothered by the child's loud cries in the echoing grave.

Joey immediately sat up in the real world breathing deeply.

"Jo-joey?" He heard Ryou's startled voice. He looked to the side to see that he was really there, and Joey immediately held him close in desperate need for comfort after what he just witnessed.

He heard other voices in the room before he fainted again.

Joey found himself once again in the shelter where the children were still holding onto each other among the deadly spirits who were not happy with this. They demanded for blood and for Jono to spread chaos across Egypt to avenge their damned souls.

Bakura was fearful of death but still held onto his potential murderer. Then he gasped when he felt something in his soul. "He's coming back." He whispered. "The monster in my soul is coming back, and he wants to kill you Jono..." He whimpered. He pressed his eyes against Jono's shoulder. He breathlessly pleaded, "Kill me...Kill me please! I don't want to kill you, Jono! Please spare me from being alone!"

Jono caressed Bakura's hair and took in a whiff of the fresh scent of sunlight. Then the twelve-year-old plunged his claws into Bakura's chest.

"NO!" Joey tried to pull Jono's arm away, but he just phased through him again.

He was about to curse, but then Jono was chanting something. He looked at the child's face to see a recognizable golden eye on his forehead. Suddenly Jono's parents, Bakura's family, the women and children and the bravest bandits appeared around them in a spiritual form of golden energy.

"What's happening?" Joey was deeply confused.

The older Jono's voice explained, _"During the creation of the millennium items, black magic filled the village and looked for vessels to house their power. Those vessels were to be the children. After the millennium items came to being, the murdered souls of Kul Elna were split apart to good and evil. There was more evil than good, so it took time for the good to come together and prevent me from killing my beloved cousin. With their power, I saw reason and learned secrets. Then with my own strength, I trapped Bakura's diabound in its stone, and then sealed the evil souls within the oasis of our village."_

Joey watched as Jono extracted Diabound from Bakura's body with his claws, and do as the older Jono told him. Joey followed the evil souls to the oasis and watched them fill into the water before the good souls formed a stone well from pieces of the village, and then sacrificed themselves to become its seal. Joey was returned to the shelter, and he saw the monsters return to human, but their limbs and organs were still scattered.

Jono stood on his dragon-like feet, and helped Bakura to stand on his own. He kissed his younger cousin before the golden eye disappeared from his forehead. The two exit from the shelter to know what truly went on.

Joey watched the two take in the devastation of the massacre. It was bright out and they saw plenty of the dead Egyptian soldiers laying on the ground, but no dead male bandits were nearby. This confused the boys that they went off to search for their fathers and Bakura's older brother but their corpses was nowhere to be found. Strangely, every male adult body was missing. Only the dead women and children were left.

Jono was able to find his charred mother.

He couldn't utter a word as his whole being seemed to have dropped its weight to his feet. His weakened, vulnerable body lied his face on her stomach to nuzzle the death of two. He remained there immobile. Bakura eventually knelled down behind him and placed his head against his warm back. That seemed to have woken up Jono from his airy thoughts. He leaned back where he took in the bloodied sight before him and screamed his anguish. He then grabbed a sword and began stabbing the faces of the dead Egyptian soldiers. He roared from the top of his lungs, "WE DIDN'T DESERVE THIS! YOU THINK BY DOING THIS, YOU CAN GET RID OF PEOPLE LIKE ME! YOU HAVE NO HEART, STUPID PHARAOH! I SWEAR ON THIS DAY THAT I WILL SEE IT THAT YOUR JAW IS RIPPED OUT OF YOUR SKULL AND YOUR HEART RIPPED OUT SO THAT YOU MAY NEVER ENTER THE AFTERLIFE!"

"Jono! JONO!" Bakura cried out to him.

Jono stopped. He just then realized he was no longer using the sword to ruin the soldiers. He had returned to his half-dragon form and was using his claws to strike each one. He looked over to Bakura to see the fear in his eyes. Jono quickly turned back to human, and held Bakura who hugged him to keep his only family left by his side.

"What're we going to do?" Bakura sobbed.

The twelve-year-old took in a deep breath. He thought back to what his father taught him, and then answered, "We have to bury the dead properly to make sure they reach the afterlife peacefully. Will you help me, Bakura? You will have to dig their graves, go through their things, and carry their bodies."

Bakura was horrified to do such a thing, but he didn't want his mother to not have safe passage to the afterlife. He bit his bottom lip and forced himself to nod. Jono forced himself to smile bravely for the younger boy like his father would for him. He hugged Bakura again to reassure him that he would keep him safe despite how frightened and confused he was, too.

Joey watched the two work hard at digging the graves for all the children and women. It took almost three days to put them all in their graves, place valuable belongings with each of them, and carry the bodies in the shelter outside. For the Egyptian soldiers, Jono used his new strength to throw them into the shelter where he set their bodies on fire.

Jono apologized profoundly to Bakura for murdering his sisters, but his cousin didn't blame him. He was just as guilty as Jono, and all that they can do is find ways to repent and avenge their fallen village.

"We will make the pharaoh suffer for this." The seven-year-old promised on his knees before the grave of his mother and sisters.

Jono agreed, but said, "But not right now. You have to remember that our parents taught us that you have to put the security of your life first before anything else. We lost everything, Bakura, so we'll have to build it back up."

"We'll build an army."

"We'll create a home." Jono held Bakura's whitened hand. "A place where we can return to after we have our vengeance, and as we do, we'll become stronger. The pharaoh still has years ahead of him and still doesn't have a heir. But once he does, we'll rip away everything he has, the same way he did to us. I promise you, Bakura, we will kill him and the next pharaoh and Egypt will crumble beneath our feet."

Joey's face went slack when the boy claimed to kill Atem. The teen feared that he was going to be used for some sort of plot to destroy Yugi to get to Atem.

Yet Jono's older voice assured him, _"I was filled with so much anger back then, and I kept a third of that promise, but I didn't try to do the rest out of love."_

Joey tried to find the guy to talk, "You sayin' that you fell in love with Atem?"

 _"No. Not that kind of love."_ There seemed to be mirth in his tone. _"Although, he thought otherwise."_

"What? Who?"

Older Jono just chuckled. _"It looks like time is up."_

"What?"

Joey found himself at the middle of the desert, and Jono in his crippled form stood before him again. _"I was able to establish this connection with you because of your exposure to the millennium items' power. Your travel to Atem's memories sealed the deal for us to meet this way, but alas, there's still so many obstacles to get through before you can set me free."_

"Why not just tell me where you are?" Joey didn't get why make it so complicated.

 _"That's the problem. I don't know where I am. After I was killed and disfigured, my soul became trapped here looking for Bakura while my body was dumped somewhere. I could just fast forward to the time I died, but I need you to understand who Bakura and I are. To understand why and how the Zorc disaster came about. I already been stuck here for over 5,000 years. I can wait for a few more years."_

"Years?!"

Jono laughed, _"It's quite a long story! And our connection can only strengthen to this level every few days or so, but don't worry. I'll try to keep it short by having my memories come in episodes. I will make sure to cut out the needless ones to save us time. See you another day, Joey."_

"...Years huh." Joey thought he was getting a grasp of this. And he simply thought that this might not be so bad. "Yeah. See you, too, Jono. And don't worry. I have a feeling in my gut that you're a good guy. And something must've happened to Bakura because he did what he did after you died right. So whatever it takes, I'll help you find your body! You can trust Jumpin' Joey Wheeler ta get ya outta trouble!"

If Jono had a jaw, he might've smiled.

Joey woke up. He looked up at the ceiling and immediately knew that he wasn't at home or the hospital. He looked a bit around to see that it looked like a room that belonged to a mansion. He saw a lit laptop at a computer desk. He thought it might hold clues, so he got off the bed and saw that he wore new silk pajamas, and that fluffy slippers were waiting for him on the floor. He took advantage of the comfiness as he strode over to the desk.

He saw the KC save screen, and that reminded Joey of what happened after he jumped into the ocean. He cursed himself for acting like a total idiot and jerk, even if he had some right in doing so. He was going to return to bed, but his sleeve accidentally touched the sensor sensitive touch pad. Joey took a peek at the screen to see some sort of blueprint for some sort of space craft. There was also some sort of new duel disk being thought out.

Joey thought it was cool, but he didn't think much of it, so he just looked for his clothes. He found them in a bag at the nightstand. He went to the bathroom to strip off his clothes and throw it into the clothe bin. Once naked, he checked out his body in the mirror to check for any problems, and he was surprised when he turned around and a pair of tattooed wings were on his back.

"Either I got really drunk in vegas, or it really wasn't a dream. Jono, huh. So he's my what's it again? He was me in de past right? But he was like de prince of thieves since he was supposed to be de king of thieves...And he's stuck somewhere. I think I remembah seein' him in de waters when I dropped in cuz I was bein' an idiot. I hope I didn't give anyone a heart attack. I should go apologize..."

Joey stared at his face, and felt his jaw. "Egyptians can't go into de afterlife unless they can say their name. It sucks because what if you're born a mute? What if you're in some freak accident that turns ya into a mute or speakin' gibberish..." the duelist stopped his wandering to move on.

"If you're changing, I advice that you closed the door." Seto Kaiba made himself known. "Finally awake I see."

Joey looked over at Kaiba, and he was still deeply thinking about the whole Egyptian thing. Jono knew Atem, or it seemed like he did, so Seth should've known him, too. But then shouldn't they have known Bakura, too. Now, he really wanted to see the whole story to understand what the hell happened to him in another life.

"What?" Seto questioned at the staring. "Did your brain remain frozen from the cold? That might actually be a cure for your hotheaded antics."

Joey should've gotten angry at that, but he was still reeling from the feelings of what he saw. He witnessed children slaughtering each other and everyone else suffering from the massacre. He just witnessed something entirely mind blowing by the fact that he was the red eyes black dragon in the past, and that's because Jono's mother was a dragon summoner, and the whole evil magic thing must've fused Jono and his dragon as one. And all of this happened because of Kaiba's father in the past life.

Seto was bothered by the lack of response. "What the hell's wrong with you Wheeler. You're acting like you've lost a duel that finally showed you your place."

"I'm going back to sleep." Joey once again ignored the insult. He wanted to sleep since reality was currently hard to get a hold on, but then his stomach rumbled. Seto expected him to say "Not before breakfast", but Joey just breathed deeply before saying, "Or better yet I should go." He put his clothes on. "Thanks for everything, Kaiba. And tell Mokuba sorry for being an inconvenience." He made his way out of the bathroom quickly. For some reason, he felt the compulsive need to run away.

"Hold on, Wheeler." Kaiba demanded, but the blonde was already out the door. "Wheeler!"

Joey walked through the hallways quickly on his bare feet. He just needed to get out of the place. He didn't understand it, but he felt like someone was out to get him, and he needed to run away. But then before he knew it, he found out that he went to the wrong stairs that led to an arcade. He just walked away, and tried again and again until he could get out of this huge place.

He eventually lied against a wall, panting. The events of the Kul Elna massacre flashed before his eyes in a blur, but the emotions it spurred were raw in his chest.

It made him think back to the problems he faced in his own life. The constant fights between his parents that led to a divorce where Joey was thrown in his father's abusive custody because nobody wanted him. He remembered how he had to grow up in dangerous streets alone, so he had to depend on the support of a gang to get by. He thought life was better when he became friends with Yugi, but the memories of nearly drowning, being possessed, being struck by lightning, being left to burn alive, being turned to stone, being tasered, nearly shot, and everything else was striking at him like knives. They weren't a problem before because he had his friends nearby to help soothe the trauma. They helped him accept the situation and feel wanted and safe.

Yet, he couldn't feel safe now. He thought about the millennium puzzle that Yugi cherished so much, but now realizing that the flesh, blood, and bones of Zulema and Jibril and Bakura's older brother was an ingredient for the weapon, his memories turned sour. He felt himself retch when he imagined the piles of dead bodies being cut apart and stuffed into a melting pot of gold.

He lost track of reality again, so when he felt someone about to touch him, he instinctively pushed the person back against the wall with his forearm, and almost squeezed his throat before realizing that the person was Kaiba by Roland's cry, "KAIBA-SAMA!"

Joey looked up to see Kaiba's horrified expression. "Oh shit." He let him go. "Sorry. I...What de fuck's wrong with meh." He was breaking down to tears because he just couldn't control himself.

"That's what I'd like to ask." Kaiba remained calm, and told Roland that he was. He then approached Joey without fear. "You're acting like some soldier on PTSD. Then again, you've always acted recklessly that you must finally be feeling the aftereffects now that your little adventures with Atem are over."

 _"PTSD?"_ That sounded about right for Joey who heavily panted. After seeing all that, how could he not be freaking out like this. However, he couldn't explain any of this to Kaiba. He realized he couldn't tell this to anyone. Ryou didn't want anything to do with Bakura, and he didn't want any of his other friends to feel guilty or badly about the millennium items or Atem or anyone.

Kaiba cut through his thoughts, "Roland will bring you back to the room where you will have your meal. Don't bother arguing with me, mutt."

Joey felt that he should've growled at him for that insult, but he just wanted to go back to feeling safe.

Roland bowed for his boss. "Yes, Mr. Kaiba. Mr. Wheeler, excuse me, but I will hold onto your arm since it appears that you can't concentrate." The man gently grabbed his arm and rose an eyebrow. He touched the blonde's forehead. "It appears that you have a fever, Mr. Wheeler. I'll have medicine and a cold pad provided for you immediately with your meal." He helped the confused young man back to his room and had him changed into a new pair of pajamas. Joey then remembered, "Wait, what day is it? I have school and work."

"You have been asleep for two days, but don't worry, both had been contacted about your situation, so you have been given days off."

Joey guessed that was alright. Roland reclined the bed, and maids came in with an over bed table and his meal. Joey didn't feel like eating at all, but having experienced hunger too many times during his childhood, he knew better than to reject food. He just gulped the soup down and his drink with his medicine in one go. He thanked Roland and the maids who stared dumbfounded.

The shook out of it and simply bowed before leaving with the table and dishes. Joey took in a deep breath and then lights went out for him in an instant. When he woke up again, it was night time, and the flashbacks of the massacre was still fresh in his mind. He hugged one of the many pillows to help him feel secure as he tried to run away back to the tranquil sea of darkness in his head.

But he heard soft clicking of a keyboard. He looked over to the table to see the shape of Kaiba's silhouette by the bright glow of the laptop. Curious as to why he was here, he got up and approached him. He stopped when he saw what was a diagram of the millennium puzzle and pictures of the destroyed shrine.

"Are you finally sane enough to speak, or do I have to turn you into an asylum?" Kaiba inquired without looking back to check if Joey was behind him.

Joey halfheartedly snapped, "Shut it, rich boy. I'm just working through some things." He really wanted to hug that pillow again.

"Then work through them faster. Time is money, and your little stunt worried everyone including Mokuba."

Joey almost forgot about them. Guilt settled in his heart, "Sorry 'bout that. I'll get out of your hair now."

"You won't. Right now Mokuba wants to see you awake and well, so you will remain here until breakfast. Your school uniform had been delivered here from your home by the tall one in your dork squad. After breakfast, you will be escorted by Roland to Domino High, so they don't have to make their little visits here."

"Great. Since your smartass finally took his diploma, I won't hafta see your face." Joey spoke that with little heat. He despised Kaiba for the asshole he is, but he didn't deny that they had a small bond formed through Yugi and Atem. And despite all the complicated stuff going on in the screen, he understood what the bastard was doing since he understood Kaiba in his own way. "Y'know bringing back Atem is crazy, but knowing you, you'd be able to pull somethin' as crazy as that. Hell, you could defy anything n' go into the after life just ta meet him."

"What makes you say that I will go that far for some outdated pharaoh?"

"Cuz of yer bond." Joey said like it was obvious. "Yugi n' de rest of us formed a bond with Atem, n' yur no different, but you were so obsessed with not believin' dis whole magic thing n' building your company that you never got to spend as much time with him like de rest of us. And even if Yugi is de true king of games, he's not Atem. He's not yur rival who you never got de chance ta beat, but I get de feelin' that yur not reachin' out ta him jus' ta even de score. You miss him like de rest of us, but you can't cope since it was too late for you to truly know who your first friend was."

Kaiba didn't respond nor did his fingers typed away.

Joey thought nothing of it as he turned back to the bed. "Yugi believes Atem is gone fer good til we die, n'..." For a short second, the ill feelings towards the millennium items that affected his love for Atem poured acid on his chest, but he told himself that Atem was innocent in all this, and that Aknadin's selfish actions shouldn't affect that. "...I guess I do, too, but prove me wrong. Anyway, see ya at breakfast." He got comfortable, and tried to fall asleep, but his brain ached to get much need action from reality.

But being in reality just reminded him of the massacre. He tried to make peace with what he saw. He promised to find Jono as soon as possible to solve this. He promised to do whatever it took to appease their deaths if Jono hadn't been able to. He made whatever promise to cope with the bloodshed. He found himself crying when he thought about how Zulema and Jibril died. His father's funeral was fresh in his mind, and he thought of the romanticized sweet memories of the two spending time together. But those memories disappeared before he was 10. He subconsciously made a comparison between his and Jono's father, and just felt unfortunate. Hating himself, he got off the bed.

"Stink. Gonna shower."

"There's another set of pajamas for you in the closet." Kaiba spoke as he continued to work.

Joey took the clothes with him, and used the toilet first before moving into the showers. Warm water immediately sprayed on him the moment he entered. He saw that instead of the traditional knob, there was buttons that were colored from red to light red and then from light blue to dark blue. He enjoyed the warm water a bit before the ill feelings in his chest flood the front of his chest, and his back shivered in disgusts and fear. He made the water hotter, but that only made him think back to the flames of the arrows and the lightning that struck Cosina and him. He quickly pressed the button that made the water be at its coldest. That helped him remember the first time Jono approached him in the sea, and that soothed him somehow. He stood under that cold shower without awareness of time.

It took Kaiba charging in, "What the hell, Wheeler! You were nearly killed by hypothermia! I'm starting to think that you're trying to kill yourself on purpose! Was the death of your pathetic excuse for a father that heartbreaking for you! Well here's some advice: Get over it!" The taller man turned off the shower and he pulled Joey out to wipe him down.

That woke up Joey from his stupor. "Hey! I can do that by myself!" He took the towel away and wiped himself accordingly.

Seto sighed out his building frustration. "Does this actually have something to do with Atem? Guess it would be hard to have to mourn for two deaths at once, and then discover that the rest of your family was nothing more than imbeciles who'll throw you under a bus to get what they want."

Joey paused wiping his hair. For some reason he felt that Seto was reaching out to him, and he actually hadn't thought about the bullshit family he had. He understood that he needed someone to talk to, but there was no one that won't pick up warning signs except for the person currently with him, and he subconsciously dropped his walls in that instant, "You know how the millennium items were created by killing the thieves at Kul Elna, right?"

That was completely off topic for the CEO. "Yeah, so?"

Joey wasn't facing him, and that made it easier for him to say, "Well, when you really think about it, that Aknadin bastard only needed 99 of them, but there's no way that there would just be 99 thieves available in one village, and for no one at all to know about its destruction. What if...there was this big event that had all the villagers of the place go there, and stay for a week after because Egypt was at war and they didn't want to get in the middle of it. And Bakura was just a kid there. Then there had to be a ton of kids at the village...with their moms. So they were killed, too, so no one knew about what happened..."

Kaiba was speechless at the questions thrown at him. What Joey said made sense, but there was no point in thinking about the tragedies of the past when it had nothing to do with them. Gozaburo created military weapon that murdered millions and left thousands suffering, but that wasn't Kaiba's concern. "What are you getting at, Wheeler?"

"...Nothing. With all these deaths going around and seeing spirits and stuff, I guess this stupid brain of mind thought too hard and went out of course. That's all." He continued drying his hair.

Kaiba knew Joey was lying, but he didn't see how this was any of his concern. Yet, he figured that he could at least put this situation at ease by giving the damn idiot some direction with his nonsense, "If you're going to be like that Wheeler, then let me tell you that your theory is pointless since those who died must've passed over to the after life while those who did possess evil souls were sent to the shadow realm by Atem's father's sacrifice. It's tragic that they died the way they did, but it's all in the past. Or what? Are you sympathizing with that psychopath who tried to destroy the world?"

Joey took in a deep breath. It was surprisingly good to hear Kaiba make sense of the situation. For his question, Joey answered, "If I was in his position, I'd probably do de same. Being left alone with little ain't easy." His body felt more balanced. He visualized thief king Bakura before his eyes, and all of his ill feelings vanished. He understood that that was a betrayal, but if things could've gone differently, he would've reached out to the king, and let him know that he wasn't alone. He visualized Jono embracing Bakura despite what he's done. The golden children who died surrounded them, and they turned into starlight after Zorc's and Aknadin's death.

Aknadin may have gotten his wish, but he would suffer for it, and Joey hoped his soul never comes out of the shadow realms.

Kaiba's voice cut through his malicious thoughts, "Are you telling me that you had psychotic thoughts of massacring Domino's citizens?"

"Nope. I went through a divorce, not a massacre. Big difference!" Joey looked over at the mirror to see that his dragon wings tattoo were gone. No wonder Seto hadn't asked about them.

Kaiba smirked at the old Joey coming back. Joey used the hairdryer, and then looked over to Kaiba with familiar bright, honeyed eyes, but Kaiba took notice that the brightness in them seemed to have been dyed by a different light. There was something wrong, but Kaiba ignored it. "Thanks fer de talk, Kaiba, n' sorry fer de trouble. I really am an idiot." He visualized priest Seto as the pharaoh. His light feelings became heavier that his lips dropped. He forced the man to vanish from his thoughts, and tried to get back to his own emotional stable state.

Kaiba noticed that jump of emotions from the many times he dueled someone. It was an irritating sight to take in that he frowned, but he didn't have time for this. "Glad to see that you finally accepted who you are."

"Fuck you." Joey flipped him the bird.

Kaiba just made his way out with a offhanded comment, "If you can't sleep, then I suppose that the safest thing you can do is take advantage of the latest games we have in the room we put you in."

That lit up Joey's mood easily that Kaiba wished he said something about that sooner. Joey quickly turned on the lights of the room. Kaiba scolded him for forgetting to put on some clothes on first. Joey just put on his pants and put in the game he's been wanting to play.

Hours went by with Joey playing through the games and Kaiba doing his work. After finishing a ton of levels, Joey finally asked, "Hey, why are you working in this room while I'm sleeping, anyway?"

"Because your little stunt frightened Mokuba, that he would remain in this room with you while you were asleep. I thought it was ridiculous, but I failed to remember that Mokuba witnessed you almost dying three times during Battle City. You were practically dead when you stupidly gave up your soul during the Dartz fiasco. When you lost subconsciousness in the car, Mokuba checked your pulse and panicked when he could barely feel it. We quickly drove here to the mansion where a doctor and the latest medical technology are always present in case Mokuba or I have an accident. Your symptoms weren't severe, but if you had walked the rest of the way home in your condition, you might've died."

Joey thought he was guilty before, but now he felt like a complete and utter asshole. "Oh fuck. Sorry. I honestly don't remember why I jumped in. I know I went into the beach because that's where my family used to have fun at. But I don't remember why I jumped in." He thought about how Jono came to him. He thought that that might've been why. His past self could only connect to him through the water...Which was weird since the guy was living in a desert...Joey felt like there was a connection somewhere in that thought.


	2. Chapter 2

When morning came, Joey had breakfast with the Kaiba brothers, and reassured Mokuba that he was well. He apologized for scaring him, and thanked them for taking care of him. He swore he owed them one. Mokuba was glad to see that Joey was back to his old self. Everyone else was when he came back to school, but they were also furious.

"YOU IDIOT! I UNDERSTAND THAT YOU'RE UPSET, BUT YOU TOOK IT TOO FAR!" Tea yelled at him.

"YEAH! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA OF HOW IT MADE US FEEL! HOW SERENITY FELT!" Tristan added.

Joey took on the tongue lashings of his passionate friends since he understood that they were just worried for him, and he deeply apologized for his actions, and promised to call Serenity to apologize to her, too. After they got that out of their system, Yugi sadly smiled at him. "I'm glad to see that you're fine, Joey. You really gave me a scare there."

The ex-bully frowned at himself. "Sorry, Yug'. I...I lost myself a moment there."

"Did you get it back?" He asked hopefully.

Joey sadly shook his head. "No. Not completely."

Yugi nodded. "If that's the case, then we'll just have to help build you back up because that's what friends do for each other."

Joey gratefully smiled for that. He wasn't alone, but considering how soon it was to tell about Jono, he had to be just for a moment. He mentally apologized to his friends for his selfishness, but until they were able to cope with Atem's absence, and Joey got a better idea of who Jono and Bakura was, then he'd tell them. Joey then laid his eyes on Ryou who was surrounded by girls, the vision of Thief king Bakura appeared next to him. The king looked lifeless and hollow in a world of darkness while Ryou shone brightly with colors. Jono appeared again to hold onto Bakura. They weren't together right now, but Joey swore he'd bring them back together. He'd give his life to make sure that happened.

"Joey?" Yugi called out to him.

The blonde snapped out of his day dreaming. "Huh? Sorry, Yug'. What were you saying?"

"Oh, it was nothing important. What I wanted you to know was that us and the gang will be more than happy to help you catch up in class for all the days you missed."

"Aw really?! You guys are the best!" He quickly became happy and immersed himself in that feeling as he put Yugi in a friendly choke hold.

At the end of the day, he went home, and the clean quietness of the place reminded Joey that his father was gone. He just held onto his bitter feelings of loneliness as he removed his jacket, but then as he did, a card from his deck accidentally dropped. He looked down to see that it was his Red Eyes. He picked it up and stared down at his dragon card and he kept it at his side while he made had his meal and got ready for bed. While doing so, Jono's memories had been rewinding in his head again and again for hours until he felt sick.

Eventually, he found his thoughts arranged and formed into verbal words, "To think that I won you from someone like Rex Raptor and it turns out that we have a wild past together. You n' I used to be just one person. We could've been two and be a team like today. You always had my back, Red Eyes. You're the card that represents my hard work and soul. The friendship and trust that I shared with Atem and Yugi. When it came down to getting you back, I always did because we're meant to be. And I get a feelin' that we're gonna have more adventures together with your old pal, Jono."

Joey got the feeling that Red Eyes was excited for something like that, and he smiled down at his card. He was wrong. He definitely wasn't alone. "Thanks Red Eyes." He kissed his card.

The next few days went on as normally as they could. Joey still felt haunted by the deaths he witnessed that when he saw children running around freely and happily at his run down part of the city, he would visualize little Jono and Bakura and all the other Kul Elna children doing the same. The streets weren't safe with the gangs going around and recruiting, and policemen could only do their bet and hope a corrupt one wasn't among them.

He thought that if people like Jono's and Bakura's parents walked among them, that they would take control of the crime around and protect the children. But that was only a dream, and this was the present. Having something like a godfather who's on the side of justice wasn't realistic anymore.

Eventually, Jono and the desert appeared again.

"I can feel your exhausted feelings." The jawless ghost told him. "I'm deeply sorry. I was so excited to finally connect with someone that I didn't consider your mental health. That was bad of me."

Joey shook his head. "Don't worry about that. I'm a tough guy like you, and I got my own Red Eyes to look out for me! But I'm curious. Did de good souls get de chance ta pass into de after life. Were de kids ever able to make peace?"

Jono nodded, "On my travels, I found another way to seal the well, so Bakura and I returned and replaced them with the new lock. Just like a fragile crumbling cookie, they turned into powder that flew away by the wind and up into the heavens."

"And their dark sides was taken by Atem's father to the shadow realm right?"

Jono nodded again. "The story behind that will come to light later, but right now, if you are prepared, you will see more memories of mine filled with miseries. Back then, I didn't think much about my past, but now that I compare it to yours, wow, I'm a pretty messed up person."

"It's not your fault. You didn't ask to be made into an orphan."

"And you didn't ask to feel like you were one." Jono's eyes turned into a dark red. "I loved my parents with all my heart like they did for me, but yours were selfish and bitter."

"But hey, they're still my parents." Joey reasoned.

"I know, but I've known parents who do too much for the sake of their children, those who do to little, and those who romanticize of what they've done for them. I'm not telling you to hate them, but you're holding onto needless attachments."

The sand shapeshifted into Joey's father. Joey was surprised, and didn't like where this was going, "Hey, I thought this was about you, not me."

"It's about the both of us. You can't handle the rest of my memories if you continue to hold onto yours without a clear resolve. Why hold onto more love for your father than he deserves? Why still recognize your mother as your mother when its clear that she resents you because you look like your father? Why pull the act of a fool so you can cope with your pain?" The sand further created his mother, and then images of Joey nearly drowning or being struck down. "You realized it didn't you, Joey. Just a taste of my memories will unleash the pain you've been hiding from everyone including your friends." Yugi and the rest of the gang were made and they surrounded him.

Joey felt insecure for a moment, but when his eyes landed on Mai, he was reminded of his reasons. "Okay, yeah, I have a lot to deal with and I'm not a hundred percent honest with my friends, and I guess I have been a coward with my feelings when I shouldn't be since they're my friends. They'd always be there for me even if they saw the uglier side of me."

"But you don't want the image you worked so hard to build to go away. You hoped that you could fake some of it until you could make it a reality, and in a way, you did accomplish that."

"Exactly." Joey explained, "I do see myself as a strong guy who can take on the world, but after what you put me through, I've come to de realization dat I'm not tough enough. Yugi and de rest of us really got out of the worst of it. We were just there for the aftermath of all the real shit dat went down. So...guess I should do some soul searching with you first before we really get down with your memories. If we have da time, of course."

"That sounds like a good plan. Let's start from the beginning." The desert completely changed into what Joey recognized to be Domino's beach. He saw his six-year-old self happily playing in the sand with his family. Jono said, "This is your favorite memory as a kid."

"Yeah..." Joey would day dream about it, but it was never as vivid as this. He could see their smiles, the lights reflected in their eyes, and the sand and droplets of water stuck to their skin and hardened hair. He could hear their cheers and laughter while the background sounds of seagulls and people were playing.

Joey wanted to join in once again as he reminisced, "It was Serenity's birthday, and we decided to spend it at de beach. I remember dat we built sand castles, went swimming, eating ice cream, and then going home to eat cake while talking on the phone with grandma and grandpa. We were alright back then until a scam got us evicted from our home." Joey's small smile dropped, "My mom was furious, and she put all the blame on my dad, and then the arguments started. The scam was dealt with in a few weeks, but the damage was already done. Even when we got our home back, the fights wouldn't stop, so I would take Serenity away from the house a lot, and we'd just walk around the city. Our parents wouldn't even realize we were gone by the time we got back home."

"And how did you feel or think during those times?"

"Back then, I began to hate them because they're supposed to focus on us, but all they ever wanted to do was one-up each other, and I always felt during those times when my mom acted nice, it was just to prove that she was de betta' parent. Growing up, I thought back to the little things like how superficial my mom was becoming while beer cans and bills were littering the living rooms and kitchen. I didn't think any of it when I was a kid. I just wanted them to disappear, so me and Serenity could be happy."

"You truly love Serenity."

"With all my heart and soul. Serenity is my little sister, and I'm supposed to protect her. Sort of like how you swore to protect Bakura. Serenity was my only light back then." Joey smiled as the memory of him and Serenity walking to the beach played. However, the image quickly changed to when he chased after the car that took her away. "When the divorce happened, there wasn't any warning or explanation for us. They just fought through their lawyers, and my mom just took Serenity." His fists clenched. "I know that Serenity bein' with mom was de betta' choice, n' raisin' two kids ain't easy, but it's not like she had to ignore me. It's not like she couldn't have bothered ta check on meh once in awhile ta tell what de fuck was happenin' ta me. Getting a damn numbah isn't hard!" Joey felt the rage boiling in him. He caught himself, and tried to stop, but Jono scolded him, "Don't hold it back! Let the rage fester in you."

"I already let that happen before, and I know I'm more than my rage. I'm already hotblooded as it is. My mom never loved meh n' I only bother thinkin' good of her cuz she raised Serenity."

"You don't love her."

Joey looked at his mother who stood before him with a smile. He shook his head, "No. I'll respect her, but I don't love her or forgive her."

"And for your dad?"

Joey reluctantly looked over at his father who formed beside him. He turned to the old man who looked drunk and angry, but the direction of that anger wasn't clear. "I do. I guess I do love him more than I should, but when I think about it clearly now, it's not because he's my dad. It's because I pity him. Everyone who went to his funeral only came to pity my family as if my dad was a criminal; a burden." He clenched his fists harder. "My old man wasn't the best person in de world n' he was a burden, but the way they acted as if I should be glad that he's dead...They don't know!" Joey gritted his teeth, looking down at the ground. Wet droplets touched the sand. "They don't know how hard he struggled to stop. They don't know what it's like to live with an addict! His own parents gave up on him! My mom gave up on him! Everyone just deserted him, and I could've...I could've..." Joey picked up his head to stare at his father. "I should've, but I don't quit on the people I love."

He wiped his cheeks and took a deep breath. He put his hand in his pocket as he found his composure. "Y'know, addiction is a mental disorder n' those guys in a lab coat aren't kidding. Nobody but me saw his struggles. Nobody but ME saw the way he hated the bottle he held, but his body cradled it like a life support. After the divorce, dad couldn't afford the house, so it didn't take long for us to start living at a run down apartment. I remember how dank de smell was, how empty and rusted the refrigerator was, and the yells and noises of neighbors talkin' or runnin'."

Joey stood in a slightly empty run down apartment, and the white noises of traffic and people from all around could be heard. He walked over to a bedroom. "It didn't take long fer me to know dat we weren't gonna keep de place fer long since my dad wouldn't get off de bed, so I looked around fer work by going in any place with a hire sign up front. I did everything from newspaper boy to babysitting a month old fer a single mother and mowin' lawns fer kids who didn't want to do their chores. The landowner knew that I was de one payin' fer all de bills, so she took pity on meh n' secretly half de rent, but she still increased it bit by bit when I got older."

The teenager rolled up his sleeve to see bruises forming on his arm. "De streets were too dangerous tah be holdin' cash, so I would try tah hide it at home so even de robbers wouldn't get tah it, b't turns out I had tah hide it from my dad. He didn't work. Lost his job during de divorce because he got into a huge fight with his boss n' de economy wasn't doin' good either. He just slept n' drank n' if there was no beer, he'd ransack our own home n' go to de bar n' he got into gambling. When I discovered what dat bastard did, I just packed up what I needed tah survive off de streets n' tried not tah cry in front of de landowner. Bless her soul dat she let us stay."

Joey stopped as the world turned back into a desert, and he was sitting on cold sand.

Jono sat next to him. "Don't hold back in blamin' him since he made you feel like you were de problem."

Joey chuckled. "Abused n' neglected child of de year. Holdin' a story a billion kids could tell betta'. My old man would hit meh when he couldn't find any money fer his gambling n' drinkin'. Almost choked me once, but definitely bruised meh neck. I didn't have any turtle neck sweaters n' collars. so I just cut up one of meh torn old shirts dat I grew too tall fer n' went ta school playin' a joke dat I was some stupid monster. None of de teachers cared tah know why I really put it on n' thought I was just some punk who was late fer class n' couldn't do any bettah cuz I was some lazy idiot n' I played de part so I can hide what's happening at home."

He sucked in his lips n' let it go with a pop. He imagined a lit cigarette in his hand n' he just needed a puff, so he could feel more relaxed. "So yur right. I am actin' like a fool tah hide de pain. But I don't wanna be pitied."

"Shame is such a wasteful emotion. You think too much of how people will react when you don't even understand your own reactions. Your own father died n' you still don't know how to react or feel. If you just shared with your friends like how you shared with meh, then it'd be easier fer you." Joey remained quiet since he felt like he had been scolded. Jono patted his back. "Ah, but it does take real strength to confess feelings. Isn't dat right tough guy."

Joey glared at the ground. He began feeling hatred for himself since he did think he was being strong after his dad's death, but at truth, he's just been avoiding it. He hugged Jono tightly yet gently since it looked like he could snap the guy easily. Jono hugged him back, and the two remained that way until Joey woke up.

He didn't go to school that day. He immediately looked through his clothes to find the suit that he wore at the funeral. He put it on, grabbed a plastic bag from his kitchen, and then cycled to the beach. He dumped all the damp sand that he could into it. He then went to the store before heading to the cemetery with two plastic bags.

He walked over to his father's grave, and he smiled mirthfully at the words carved on the stone: "Beloved Son and Father".

"Hey old man!" Joey called out to his old man as if he were alive and hard of hearing. "Got you a gift!" He opens up the plastic bag of sand and dumps it out onto the dirt patch. He used his hand to make sure it scattered around. "You're probably callin' meh a maniac, but I wanted you to remembah de good memories, you old fart, after havin' such a boring funeral you didn't give a crap about. Might've joined ya in de casket tah get outta hearin' grandma talk about how you were a boy scout! Well, ya can forget 'bout that. Your real funeral starts now old man n' it's de way it should've been. Just you n' meh."

He then took out the aspirin and water bottle from the second bag. "But before I talk, your head must be killin' ya so early in de mornin', so here!" He popped the pills out onto the sandy ground, and then poured the water over it. When it finished, he sighed out in satisfaction.

"Now let's begin."

While Joey was there, his friends became concerned because Joey never missed a day of class unless something was wrong. They quickly went to his home after school to see if he was okay, but he wasn't there. Yugi quickly thought that Joey may be at the cemetery, so they went over there, and they found Joey sitting on the grass in front of his father's grave, and he was silent.

They remained at a distance, so they wouldn't rudely disturb his mourning. Yet, it didn't take long for Joey to get up with a smile. "See you later old man." Joey then noticed his friends.

Yugi spoke up, though sounding a little guilty, "Uh, hey, Joey. Sorry for coming here unannounced, but you didn't come to school today."

"Oh yeah. Sorry 'bout dat. I just need ta talk to my old man. Ever since he died, I thought I was coping with it by staying strong, but I realized last night that I was just avoiding how I really felt. You guys may not like to hear this, but I'm glad he's gone. I mean I am sad and I loved him, but it's like cancer living with an addict. I probably would've been spending the rest of my life after graduation trying to pay off his debts until I kicked de dust. I spent my whole life before I met Yugi feeling like a burden, hoping my dad could snap out of his addictions, praying that he didn't ransack the house again for cash, and everyday I was scared shitless that I might find my dad dead when I got home..."

Joey felt ashamed, but Tristan placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "That sounded rough, dude, but now, we can look forward to better days. How about we head over to a buffet at a new restaurant in town! My treat!" He winked with a thumbs up.

That sounded good to everyone, and it definitely perked up Joey's mood. Food really did sound good for the hungry teen who skipped breakfast and lunch. After having his early dinner, the gang with Bakura and Duke headed to the mall to play at the arcade. After having their fun, they gang split up to go home. Joey and Yugi walked home together since they were heading the same direction.

"Hey Yug'." Joey called out to him since it looked like his friend was deep in thought.

Yugi quickly turned his attention to his friend. "Hm? Yeah Joey?"

"What's wrong? Did I really give you a scare?"

"Oh, yeah. It's just that after what you said, I began asking myself if I also been avoiding grieving for Atem's death."

"What? No way. Yug', you and Atem shared a different relationship compared tah me and my old man. I avoided really thinking about his death because I just couldn't accept it. With Atem, we succeeded Yugi. We helped the pharaoh complete his destiny while gaining an everlasting friendship that helped him ultimately defeat Zorc. But what's most important was that we gave back his name. His identity, and a home he had to go back, too, and hey, when we're dead, we can all chill at ancient Egypt heaven and all's cool."

Yugi stared at Joey who always seemed to know exactly what to say to lift his spirits. He genuinely smiled for the first time since it was only over half a month ago that they said goodbye to Atem. However, that smile quickly dropped when he couldn't stop the tears that he cried for many nights out of loneliness. He sobbed, "I just miss him you know...I'm happy that he finally gets to rest in peace, but it still felt so sudden. I thought I was ready. I thought I could cope, but when it really happened and now I have to live my life without him helping me or me helping him..." His breath became ragged. "I can't help thinking that I should've lost that duel, and you might not like to hear this, but I told myself that it was so he wouldn't leave us, but all I really wanted was for him to not leave me." He gripped his shirt over the spot that Joey recognized where the puzzle would've been. "I feel so weak and vulnerable without him."

Joey looked down at his sniveling friend and warmly smiled at him. "Weak and vulnerable? You must be out of your mind. Yugi, the pharaoh was just a guy without any memories, but with some great talent for gaming; I'll give him that. But you're the one who taught him what he really needed, and that was you fight not just for yourself but for de people you care about. When you two faced Kaiba when he tried to kill himself, or even Pegasus or evil Marik, you didn't let the pharaoh make the wrong choices, you fought with everything you got and sacrificed yourself because you trusted him even when Atem was in doubt or didn't know what to do. You gave him the confidence and strength he forgot he had. A weak and vulnerable guy can't do that. Especially when Atem gave himself to the Orichalcos, he was a wreck without you."

Joey smiled proudly for his short friend with great potential and strength, "You defeated him because you were always stronger to begin with, and I get that you don't feel that way now, but if anything did go wrong, you can handle it Yugi. And all of us will be right there with you; right by your side or in spirit. Even if there's a chance of losing me, Yugi, you never truly will."

Yugi gasped once he remembered how Joey almost died by Marik's hand after burning his own best friend alive. When Atem and him had to duel against Kaiba, Joey's strong will helped them defeat Kaiba when all seemed lost, and he woke up from his doomed fate from a god to cheer him and Atem on. And even now, Joey looked at Yugi without a doubt that he was just as strong as he was, and memories of their adventures together was proof.

Yugi let go of his shirt and found the will to smile again as he nodded. He could feel a small light gleaming in his chest again. "Thank you, Joey."

Joey brushed off the heavy atmosphere. "Hey! What are true friends for!" He grinned happily, but it dampened down into a soft smile yet he turned serious. "Yug', there's something I hafta tell ya."

"Huh?"

"Let's head to my place first." The two went there, and Yugi called his grandpa, so he knew where he was. When they got comfy on Joey's bed, the warrior-type duelist explained what happened after they exited the pharaoh's memories and what happened after his father's funeral.

"You saw the massacre of Kul Elna?!" Yugi had to interrupt.

Joey nodded and explained in detail of who Jono and Bakura was as kids and how the massacre truly went down. Yugi had to cover his mouth in shock and he couldn't help crying when he learned of the children's fate at the shelter. Joey then told Yugi about the Jono he was meeting in his dreams and how he helped him with his problem.

The two found themselves lying in Joey's single bed, pressed together to get comfortable in the cramped dark space. "So Jono is currently missing, but before he wants you to figure out where he is, he wants you to figure out who he is first."

"Yup. And he told me that it's gonna get depressing. If he doesn't let me see the bloodshed again, I think I'm gonna be watching Birth of a Nation once a week for a long while."

Yugi frowned for his friend, "I wish there was something I could do."

Joey smiled for him, "You're already doing it. I hesitated telling you before because honestly, after knowing what the millennium items were made of and what it did, what I felt for Atem before turned for the worse. I know that what Aknadin did shouldn't affect how I feel for Atem, but I can't help feeling angry that he used the items that killed children and tore families apart. The puzzle may have helped bring us together, Yug', but all I can see now is a torture device. If our friendship had to come at that sorta price...I don't think this friendship is worth that."

Everything fell silent for awhile before Yugi finally found his voice, "Neither do I." He held Joey's hand. "I always saw the puzzle as a connection between me and Atem, and even after learning about how they were made, I never truly questioned it. I just heard 'evil souls' and my mind immediately thought it was justifiable, but I was being ignorant."

"Me too, Yugi. But I'm a selfish bastard. I know fer sure that even if I knew about this before, I'd still remain at your side and Atem's because I still love you both."

"Joey..." Yugi planted his face against his best friend's arm, and Joey could feel his damp cheeks. "I love you both, too. Whatever happened in the past, we'll set it right. Together."

Joey felt his own chest brighten by those words and the resolve in his heart strengthened. "Thanks Yug'."

The two fell asleep together.

The next day, Joey and Yugi didn't tell the rest of their friends about Jono. They discussed if they needed to tell them. They thought they should since they are their friends and they did help during their adventures with Atem, but this was only the beginning and Joey was just having dreams and needed to find a body. They figured that there was no point of worrying their friends unless something bigger than this was happening. They also didn't like the idea of depressing someone sensitive like Tea who had a crush on Atem or worrying an overprotective guy like Tristan. They also didn't want to pull Ryou into the whole Bakura thing either. Especially not when graduation was coming soon.

So it was going to be their little secret until then.

And Jono was pleased to know this when they reconnected. "You and Yugi have a strong bond as equals. That's something Atem and I never had. We were fifteen years apart, so when he was more of a little brother to me."

"A little brother, huh. I can see that. Hey, did you know Priest Seth and de other priest back then?"

Jono chuckled, "All of that will be known, and I can feel the light within your resolve. The both of you are ready to look further into my memories to truly know who and Bakura truly are."

"Both of us?" Just then a gust of darkness blew by him and took on the form of the Red Eyes Black Dragon. "No way!"

Jono explained, "I am the both of you combined thanks to the millennium items, but I couldn't reach to the other half of me because your heart had been closed off."

"That's why ya knew I didn't have de resolve ta move forward." Joey's golden hazel eyes gleamed at the sight of his dragon right beside him. He petted him with much affection and pride. "Red Eyes here is the card that represent my soul. I love all my cards, but they understand that us two had a connection n' with you, Jono, I understand why that is. We're supposed to be one n' we always had our backs. I lost him once and I always won him back. Right Red Eyes." The dragon purred and enjoyed the kisses Joey wasn't embarrassed to give him on his cheek and nose.

Jono snorted, "I'm watching two halves of myself loving each other. I nevah thought I'd see de day, but it warms my unbeating heart."

Joey and Red Eyes blushed with guilty grins.

"Okay! Hit us with yur best shot, Jono! We're ready fer anything now dat we're togetha'!"

"Understood. But know that you won't only be seeing my memories, but you will learn from them. Like before, the both of you will become one with my body, so you will know how to fight like a warrior and know the tricks of a thief. You will also learn about the ancient world, its secrets, and come across the hardest questions you will ever encounter. You will love me for my heroism and hate me for my stupid choices, but whatever you will feel for me at the end of this, you will become a greater person than I!"

Joey felt his whole body quake in excitement with Red Eyes beside him wagging his tail in anticipation.

Jono's hazel eyes twinkled at this enthusiasm.

"Let's begin."

._._._.

 _A few months ago after the gang returned to the present from the pharaoh's memories_

Within Cairo, the capital of Egypt, a family of adults and a few teenagers were present at a villa. Despite the catastrophic weathering that took place outside due to Zorc's near completed conquest of dimensional domination, the home remain unscathed. One of them looked outside when they noticed the roaring sounds of winds and heavily droplets of rain stopped.

"It has cleared. Zorc has been defeated."

"Then he should be arriving soon." Everyone looked to the glass coffin that held the embalmed mummy that slept in peace.

In a matter of minutes sand appeared out of thin air and shaped the mummy into its full flesh and form. He gasped for air when he woke.

"Open the coffin! Do a medical check up immediately!"

A group of them opened coffin and the confused mummy was hauled up and onto a stretcher. A woman smiled down at him in a soothing manner, "It's alright our grandfather Bakura. We, your descendants, will take care of you."

Bakura was still bewildered, but a shot to his arm helped put him at ease, and he fell asleep. He was quickly placed into a room where the doctors and nurses of the family checked every inch of him to check if he was alright.

Another woman who was covered with hair all over her body approached the one who spoke to their grandfather, "Tawaret, does this mean that the prophecy for the third and final wave of darkness will come?"

Tawaret nodded sadly, "Bast, you will be his guardian and trainer until our king Jono is found by his reincarnation."

Bast crossed her arms. "I already finished my years of active duty in the army. I am honored to be given the responsibility."

Both of them looked at their revived ancestor who was injected with many tubes.

As this happened, from Cairo to Mexico city, a lovely mocha tanned woman with round mono-lid eyes, a sweet cordial smile on a pleasantly plump face, and brown hair that seemed to have a pink tint when light would shine upon it was eating a strange meat on her platter. She was currently dining alone in a grand dining room while watching from a crystal ball of what appeared to be a withered man deep within a purple smog. The ancient person had long grey hair and a beard that only thinned his starving appearance while he looked down at a dried up, preserved heart with only one eye. He held that heart close to his chest and the woman hummed to his repetitive whispers below his breath, "I did what I must. I did what I must. I did what I must. For my son, the pharaoh, for Egypt."


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Thank you for the reviews! And for Guest, it's strictly platonic between Jono and Bakura. As for whether Jono or Joey has or will have any romantic relations, you'll just have to read on! (But there's definitely some puppyshipping, but not right away)

There's a lot of time jumping since the real story starts a few years after DSOD.

WARNING! DSOD spoilers! And a special guest cameo or something like that.

._._._.

At Mexico City, the woman with the sweet cordial smile stood on top of a pillar while looking down at the multiple screens that displayed practically everyone in the world and different dimensions. There was a beep that echoed in the cylinder shaped room. She had one of the screens come up to reveal Tawaret. "Xochimitl, have you any sight of the new 3rd wave cult?"

The woman hand signed her answer while wearing a colorful cloak.

"Nothing, you say." The leader sighed out in disappointment. "So they truly have discarded magic, and moved on to technology since Industrial Illusions and Kaiba Corporations had bought the 2nd wave to life." Xochimitl hand signed her apologies, but Tawaret assured her, "It's alright, child. You are still a valuable member of our family. Is there any other troubles that we should be aware about?" The woman used her whole body and describe a whole situation. "So Diva became bloodthirsty like we expected. We told Shadi that what he was doing was reckless, but he had his Egyptian pride so deep in his ass that this whole 2nd wave of darkness was truly thanks to him. No one, not even children, should be entrusted with such a power, and once again, Shadi had to prove us right. Thank Horakhyty he's finally in the after life screwing things up there."

Xochimitl silently laughed at her ranting. She then signed of what should they do about this.

The woman answered, "It's none of our concern. No doubt that Diva will be his own undoing, and the power of the prana will be gone. That'll be something else to teach at our academy, so none of the children will grow up to be Shadi. Anyway, how is the shadow realm." Xomichitl opened her cloak that revealed a darkness. Orbs came out to reveal prisoners of the shadow realm. "Looks like everything is still normal. The worthless Aknadin of the 2nd wave is still a broken record of a corpse and Aknamkanon is still sleeping peacefully while the evil spirits of Kul Elna are swirling around aimlessly. Bast had been taking good care of Bakura, so you'll be able to meet him at our holiday festival, and we already paid your travel fare, Xomichitl." The magical woman jumped in glee as she took the orbs back in to her cloak. "Alright, that's all I wanted to have reported. Keep up the good work, child." Xomichitl gave a playful bow, making the woman laugh before turning off the screen.

._._._.

Joey was knocked down on the ground in his dream by Jono. It may be a dream, but Jono had a control over his brain that made him feel the full brunt force of his hits as if he was in reality. That was how Joey was capable of remembering how to do the moves Jono taught him. Yugi didn't like it after being told because Jono was basically conditioning him, and he admitted that even if Jono was Joey in the past life, the man had gone through a different kind of struggle that may have made him a dangerous man to associate with. Joey assured him that he had it under control. However, at times like this where he was basically eating sand, he questioned if he did.

Jono had took it upon himself to teach Joey the various ancient fighting techniques and cultures in order to teach his reincarnation of how to become a warrior. Joey had actually requested for the man to teach him face-to-face instead of just watching or feeling it out in kid Jono's body. After watching the child save lives and change them for the better through his fists without losing himself, Joey wanted to do the same. He always used his fists to harm and protect people, and he learned to duel instead of use violence to settle a dispute evenly. But he wanted to get better. He wanted to be stronger, especially after being exposed to nightmare after nightmare.

Jono's memories were like going through hell once or twice a week, and this was them having a break because sometimes it was too much and Joey needed to let out his ill emotions. After almost three months of dealing with the memories, he had to admit that he wanted to quit doing this altogether. The heinous acts of humanity that happened in the past were too much. Jono and Bakura were not even in their late teens when they had to face cannibals, rapists, religious nutjobs, and malevolent monsters and spirits who deemed themselves gods. They even faced cultures that justified or normalized the murder, neglect and utter torture of babies, children, and naive, good people. Yet the worst moments was when they failed to save the people they came to love and care about in the worst way. Joey would be left a wreck for days to grieve for those people he also become fond of and even connected with when he heard their stories or saw their struggles.

Joey wished he could just go back in time to prevent the boys from doing what they did after the massacre of Kul Elna. It had at first started out tamed where the kid Jono and Bakura traveled for weeks through the sand with the food and water they took with them in a cart. The older Jono quickened the pace by fast forwarding to the conversations and moments that were important to him.

On the trip, little Bakura walked beside Jono who had his dragon wings out, so he could shade his cousin. The child looked up at the demonic looking wings and questioned, "What is it like being a dragon? Aunt Cosina came from a clan of god-like reptilian summoners from this kingdom called Greece. Her own was a wyvern but your own is a dragon."

Jono answered while pulling the cart. "I don't really feel any different other than that when I shape shift, I hafta get used to de added weight, new limbs, and try not to crush anything with my new strength. Ya should know that reptiles we summon represent our soul. You noticed it right. Whenever my mama summoned hers, you could feel her strength, her love and her potential. The reason her own is a wyvern is cuz she was a free spirit. She was someone who wanted to soar the skies and rebel against dictators."

"But a dragon can do that, and wouldn't it be better to have both hands and feet."

"I asked my mama de same question, too. Told me that it represent her forwardness." Jono stopped the cart and crouched down like a dog sitting on its butt. "You see, when you have arms, you kinda gotta leaned back and if you go forward," he leaned forward with his arms. "You still gotta straighten yourself up to accommodate these limbs. But without them," He pulled them back to his sides, "I can be as straight forward as I want."

"If that's the case, you should've been a wyvern, too."

Jono chuckled at that joke, and the two moved forward, but they stopped when they finally found another village. Bakura was relieved, but then his vision turned red when he spotted Egyptian soldiers. His immediate reaction was to go kill them, but Jono was quick to grab the front of his shirt.

"Don't Bakura. I was able to seal your diabound, but if you let the rage overcome you, he can be summoned."

Bakura stared at his older cousin incredulously, but curiosity overtook him. "Why...Why...did my monster form come out when my sisters turned into one?"

Jono's face fell and his grip lessened. He calmly explained, "Because your rage was different. I fused with my dragon because of how I was born, so I was sensitive to the effects of whatever happened. Neferkare and Neferure became monsters because they were younger and confused. You were also standing at the corner with aunt, so the wave of evil magic must've not effected you immediately, but the moment aunt died, you channeled the evil magic seeping into your soul and created your diabound."

That made sense to the little boy. He saw the babies and kids younger than him turned before the older kids who were standing far from him. "So I was saved by circumstances." He dropped to his knees. Jono carried him onto the cart, and covered him and the supplies with a sheet.

"I'll go into the village and buy more supplies."

"Will you kill any of the soldiers?"

Jono didn't answer. He remained silent and stayed that way for awhile. He had retracted his wings into his back and sat on the ground covered with patches of grass. He took out his dagger and stared at its edges.

In the end, he chose to just buy some supplies, and then the two slept beside each other in the cart outside of the village at night.

Bakura questioned with evident disappointment in his voice, "Why did you spare those soldiers? They're no better than the rest. They'd kill us if they knew who we were."

Jono took a deep breath before answering, "We're no better and we won't be any better if we kill them just because we assume that they'll do what we think."

"So it comes down to pride!" Bakura sat up, a thin grey smoke emitted from his skin.

"It comes down to doing things right. You've been sheltered from de world, Bakura, and never slit a man's throat before." Jono held his dagger to his younger cousin's neck. Joey could see since the memories were adjusted for him to witness this. "You've only known Kul Elna all your life while I traveled with my dad. When dad lost a friend, he didn't kill the bastards immediately. He set them up for the soldiers to find, and they didn't just get a lashing, but since they knew full well of who did that to them, they suffered here." He poked Bakura's temple hard to get it into the boy's mind. "I understand that you want bloodshed to ease your pain, but you don't eat unripened fruit."

Bakura was visibly shaken and he cried at his weakness. Jono held his cousin close and planted kisses across his face like a mother would.

Joey felt proud that Jono, despite barely even being a pre-teen, was very smart and mature after facing such cruel devastation. Older Jono explained to him that he truly didn't know what he was doing in the situation. He knew of who was responsible and the little answers that Bakura sought, but he didn't know why it all happened to begin with other than the insufficient obvious answer. At that time, he was just doing what made sense at the time and said whatever he could to appease his cousin's hatred, so Diabound didn't cause a massacre of its own.

Joey watched the kids travel all the way to the kingdom of Egypt where they listened to the gossip of adults about how their monarch had obtained these new golden items that unleashed monsters that helped them win the war. It was a no-brainer for the children to know that the attack of their village and the appearance of these mysterious items were connected, but they weren't sure of whether they were tested at Kul Elna or not.

Later that night, they skillfully passed by the guards and servants like the children of thieves they were. They planned on finding someone who would have knowledge of this and then escape to create a new plan. The one place they went to was the harem where all the concubines were asleep.

They woke one of them up and had her come with them to the bathing place. It wasn't unnatural for a woman to be accompanied by children at night since they could need the restroom.

Joey was surprised to know that the woman they picked was Bakura's aunt yet when he took a good look at her, the woman did share similar traits. Bakura looked more like his father with his gray hair, but he shared Samar's lilac eyes. The aunt shared her long black cornrows, defined cheek bones, and square jawline. A definite fierce beauty that was suited for a queen instead of a mere concubine.

When they reached the restroom, she knelled down. "Why are you two here? Where is your father, Jono?"

The children didn't meet her eyes, but Jono answered, "The pharaoh's army came to Kul Elna and killed everyone."

The woman's face fell. "But the shelter-"

Bakura answered, "They used some sort of black magic that turned all the kids into monsters. Jono fused with his dragon, and circumstances made me make one."

Jono added just as his cousin began to sob. "We thought it might've been caused by the millennium items. We came here to ask how many days ago since they had them."

Aunt Omaira questioned instead, "When did the massacre take place?"

Jono answered and the aunt was speechless. She held the children close to her as they wept on her shoulders. Soon, she stepped back and promised, "I will take care of this. You two know how to survive out there. Jono take care of Bakura."

Joey didn't know what she was going to do, but it looked like the children knew exactly what she was going to do when they nodded without hesitation. The kids exited the palace but they remained in the city for a few days, so they could check if their aunt survived her attempts of vengeance for them or not. Joey was afraid to know what would happen because the priests had the millennium necklace, so they could foretell her betrayal. And from what he could remember from history classes, it wasn't going to be pretty when they do.

Older Jono explained that Bakura's aunt explained what happened at Kul Elna to Aknamkanon in private, and the pharaoh was heartbroken by the news, but he didn't know what action to take. Omaira wanted bloodshed for justice, but she understood that simply killing Aknadin would bring turmoil to the pharaoh's power since Aknadin was not only his priest but his twin brother. The pharaoh was too weak to deal with the cruelty of his family. Plus, even if Kul Elna's massacre came to light to the people, no one would sympathize with the death of heavy hearted thieves or their own families. They would find their death justifiable since they at least served a good purpose with their death. She only told the pharaoh who held a good heart, so he would be drowned in miserable guilt for his lack of leadership.

She then acted out the steps of her true plan. Omaira was very persuasive and influential among the soldiers and villagers, so it wasn't hard for her to round many of them up. Joey watched the kids eavesdrop on the concubine planning out the attack at one of the run down buildings furthest from the palace. Joey was just waiting for soldiers to come rushing in to stop this because the priestess must've predicted this with the millennium necklace, but they never came.

The older Jono explained that the priestess only predicted that red would shower the streets if they dared make their rounds in the kingdom. She warned her fellow priests that they shouldn't go, but their pride told them to do it anyway, so as to not show fear, and to display their power and importance.

Joey wanted the whole thing to pause because he wasn't sure if he was ready to see what was to come, but the older Jono pushed on.

Kid Jono and Bakura were told by Omaira to leave Egypt at once, but Jono didn't want her to die for the sake of Kul Elna, so from the street they knew that Bakura's aunt and the priest would be, they waited in an alley.

"Jono." Bakura called out to his cousin anxiously, "We should stop this. I don't want Aunt Omaira to die. I want vengeance for everyone, but not if it means that more have to die. Why can't we just kill the one truly responsible in his sleep and leave?"

The blonde answered, "Our loved ones don't deserve a vengeance so cheap. And yur aunt isn't doing this for Kul Elna exactly. She's doing this fer yur mother. Ya gotta let her do her own thing or else she'll always suffer bein' alive. But don't worry, Bakura. I won't let her die."

Bakura truly believed him that he relaxed somewhat, but his goosebumps emerged immediately when his aunt called out to the priests and priestess. Omaira approached Aknadin with a friendly smile that the guards let her near them.

Joey could hear Aknadin speak, "Ah, Omaira. Out shopping again without guards, I see. You truly are quite bold." That didn't sound like a compliment, but the woman let it slide as she got much closer.

"You flatter me." She hugged him with one arm wrapped around his neck and and the other pressed against his body. No one thought any of this until they saw his cloak become dyed in red from where the woman's lower hand was pressed.

"Aknadin!" One of the priests yelled, but they didn't move since they were too shocked by such a betrayal to occur after all these years of loyal servitude from the concubine.

Omaira stepped back, taking the dagger out with her in one clean movement before her nails dug into the man's eye socket and pulled out the millennium eye out cleanly before anyone could react.

"YOU KILLED MY SISTER, YOU DESPICABLE LOW-GRADED MURDERER!"

That was the signal for the traitors among the guards to kill the others. The other soldiers and villagers came out of the shadows and surrounded them with their weapons.

"This is treason!" One of the priests called out.

Omaira snapped her orchid purple eyes on him. Her voice calmly rose among the panicked heart beats like a sea wave, "The millennium items you hold grant you great power, but you dare not question its origin." She looked out to the civilians who backed away, but still remain close to know what was going on. "THIS MAN KILLED FAMILIES AND LOVED ONES! MY OWN DEAR SISTER WAS A VICTIM TO THIS!"

"She sacrificed herself for a great cause!" Aknadin dared to defend himself while holding his bleeding wound.

The way those orchid eyes landed on Aknadin silenced everyone. Even the wind seemed to have died down.

"Sacrifice?"

The cold chills that came from saying such a word left everyone in doubt of Aknadin's claims. Omaira's voice lowered as if she was trying to cage in an animal with fur bristling as it woke from its slumber. "You are a poisonous frog that jumps into the throat of a kitten." She rose her dagger up in the air, which signaled for her men to attack. The priests activated their diadhank and unleashed their monsters only to shield themselves since they couldn't grasp the situation nor hurt their civilians.

The priestess reached Aknadin before Omaira could end him. "Please Omaira, we can talk this out!"

The concubine glared at her without passion, and simply grabbed her hood along with her hair and threw her out of the way. She pulled Aknadin up so she could spit at his face. Her dagger glinted by the sun, but before she could plunge the wilting man into darkness, he chuckled.

The golden eye on Jono's forehead warned Jono immediately to launch himself in his half-dragon form in between Omaira and the chuckling, sinister priest. The millennium eye in her hand fell out and was caught by the possessed Aknadin.

"AH...AHHAHAHAHA!" The man got on his feet with eyes opened to the insanity of the world by Zorc who submerged his conscience in the darkness. "So this is the world of mere mortals! After weeks of watching such a mundane world, I see that you all are nothing but morsels for me to feed on once my true form arrives! Thanks to this fool, he gave me the gateway to your dimension! With these seven millennium items and a worthy sacrifice, I will swallow your sun and make this world my new kingdom!"

Instantly, the priests eyes blackened, and the one who wielded the millennium rod rose his item and extracted all of the monsters from the soldiers and the villagers. With the beasts, they slaughtered the traitors except for Omaira who watched in horror of the true consequence for the death of her beloved sister. Every other civilian on the street and in their home ran off for their lives, but they could only get so far.

"Jono, go!" Omaira ordered him, but the child stayed in between her and the devil.

"No." The kid ordered her instead while the demon was distracted by its antics, "Take Bakura and run."

"Wha-"

"I can sense it. Bakura is filled with the darkness needed to become the worthy sacrifice. If this bastard get him, he will be unleashed. Take him and run, Omaira!"

The aunt hesitated, but for the sake of her sister's child, she grabbed him and ran. Bakura was baffled by this and cried out to be let go.

Joey thought Jono was insane to go against Zorc, but he was quickly mistaken when he saw the golden eye once again appeared on Jono's forehead.

Zorc with Aknadin's face looked at this with interest, "Ah, you have been soaked in the darkness of the shadow realm, but yours...is different."

Jono didn't answer him. Seeing that the coast was unfortunately clear, Jono took on his full dragon form as the Red Eyes Black Dragon. Joey stared in awe when the young dragon took on Zorc's monsters without fear. Jono immediately aimed his inferno fire blast at Aknadin, but the dark power of Zorc and the monsters surrounding him protected him.

As a consequence for failing, Jono was thrown through a building and was charged by multiple monsters. Joey knew he couldn't heard, but he still called out for the kid to be watch out and make a run for it.

Jono flew up to the sky to attack the monsters with his inferno fire blasts. He tried aiming at Aknadin again with an even more powerful concentrated blasts, but that took time. He couldn't hold his focus when the monsters leaped to him and pulled him down by their weight. The child crashed down into a building.

"JONO!" Bakura cried out. He knew that loud crash was his cousin's even with his aunt covered his vision. He was frustrated with his aunt that his sensitive body was filled with rage. His new strength pushed the woman to the side carelessly, and he released Diabound from his soul. It tore through the unprepared monsters to give Bakura a path to Jono.

The dragon boy was able to throw off and kill the monsters that tackled him down, and he was about to blast another inferno blasts, but he was stopped himself when he saw a frightened child left alone among the chaos. His immediate response to the situation was to fly away from the place to not burden any more innocent citizens, but before he could fly away, Bakura had been caught by Zorc who recognized the boy's potential to be the sacrifice he needed after all.

Jono immediately returned back to save Bakura, but he was immediately overwhelmed by the power of the millennium items.

"Jono! JONO!" Bakura cried out loudly as he struggled to remove his wrist from the strong grip. "JONO! I BELIEVE IN YOU!"

Jono struggled against the power of the millennium items, but it looked like his efforts were becoming in vain.

 _"Bakura!"_

Joey found himself becoming one with Jono again, except this time his own Red Eyes Black Dragon joined him. The sensation of being a dragon was odd but exhilarating for the present time teen. However, the exhaustion and pain from being beaten down toned down his excitement.

 _"If I just burned down the kingdom..."_

"What?" Joey was shocked to hear such a suggestion.

 _"It's just like Bakura said. If I just killed off everyone who would want to kill us, then it'll be easier on us. We're thieves anyway. One look from the judges before Anubis n' we'll be eaten by Ammit. Even Aunt Omaira who served the pharaoh loyally will be eaten with us because she went against the priests. That's how the gods will judge us, so why not...throw them away."_

Jono's glimmering red eyes dulled down into the color of maroon. Joey didn't like where this was going that he tried to extract himself but him and his red eyes dragon were stuck within the kid. They found it hard to breathe due to the pressure of an elephant's foot pressing on their chests.

"Jo-Jono!" Joey rasped out. There wasn't any oxygen. He really couldn't breathe!

 _"Throw away the gods..."_

Joey wanted to scream when his skin melted as if he had been bathed in acid. Jono's own dragon scales were in fact emitting a black smoke that created a fog throughout Egypt.

 _"Rip away the jaw of the almighty pharaoh."_

Joey witnessed through Jono's eyes of Zorc calling forth the millennium puzzle with just the wave of his hand. The item did come flying through the air without Aknamkanon attached. The monster had everything he needed, and Jono could only succumb deeper into his dark thoughts.

 _"And do away these blessed people..."_

Joey felt his vision wavered from the lack of oxygen. He could only make out the bright light emitting from the millennium puzzle as it got closer and closer. A white light took over, and Joey with Red Eyes found themselves standing deep within an oasis in the middle of the hot desert. They look to the shore to see Jono waist deep in the water. Before him, Horakhty stood in human size.

Jono looked at her with no interest as the goddess spoke, "You think such vile words but your heart spoke differently. You aim for justice but your heart pleads for mercy and understanding. That was what our parents have preached to you, King of Kul Elna."

The child's eyes hazel eyes lit up to reveal the gold buried within them. "I'll admit, Lady. I'm an idiot. I just thought of those nasty things cuz it was easy n' I let it hit meh down. But it wasn't like I was going to give up. That rat has Bakura n' I won't lose another family. I still have a choice in this matta'. So get me out of whatever ya took meh to n' let me handle this whackjob before Bakura gets it."

The goddess smiled. "There's no worries. Time has paused in your world, so please enjoy my company. You are definitely a man of valor, King of Kul Elna. Your loyal heart and strong will are keys to saving your world, and I shall help you defeat Zorc Necrophades to ensure that evil and good shall remain balanced."

"Thank you." Jono actually took a good look at her. "Excuse me, what's your name."

The goddess's silver eyes looked deeply into his golden ones. "I shall give you my name, but you cannot give me yours."

"Huh? Why not? It's manners."

"That's because I grant a special but cursed privilege to the names I am given. My name is Horakhty. When Aknadin created the millennium items, he had no clue that he was creating keys that could open a portal to the shadow realm: a place created by the evil in people's hearts and thus gave birth to this monstrous god. The millennium items also opened up other portals that allowed the great beasts to appear from other worlds or within a person's soul just as the dragon you were fused with."

"You sound like you know a lot of things. Can you please tell me what happened to all the guys that weren't in the shelter? What did they do with my dad and his brother?" Jono pleaded for an answer despite his fear.

The goddess frowned yet revealed to the boy of how the millennium items were created. Jono staggered back when he imagined the corpses of his father, uncle and cousin being piled up with the other corpses and then thrown recklessly into melted gold. His golden hazel eyes turned red subconsciously, and he roared out his anger at such disrespect for his beloved father and the other men of his own village!

Joey was afraid that he was going to be sucked in again, but instead Jono looked straight at the goddess and pleaded for the answer to defeat Zorc so he could save Bakura. The goddess appeared to be satisfied by the question, but the answer she provided came at a price, and Jono didn't hesitate to take it, so he gave his name.

Jono's senses then immediately returned back to reality with Joey with Red Eyes back in his dragon form, but the boy relinquished the form so he could seize the millennium puzzle at its base, piercing his palm in the process.

"WHAT?!" Zorc tried to get the puzzle back, but his own hands burned by the growing glowing light. "WHAT IS THIS?!"

Jono used his other hand to bring Bakura close to him. Omaira was able to pass through the immobile monsters, and she took Bakura back into her arms, so Jono could do his business.

The child stood closer to the cowering god.

"This is the light of my soul that you cannot touch. You may have been the result of these cursed items coming to life, but these items were created by the flesh, blood, and bones of my people. Of my family. Anyone may abuse their power, but no one, but I will determine their ultimate fate and choose whoever can truly unlock the their true power! And as long as that's true, you will never walk among us! But it comes at a price..." He nodded his head down, took a deep breath, and then looked over his shoulder to Bakura.

Zorc took this opportunity to escape but golden chains spout out from the ground and locked him in place.

"Bakura. Omaira. I'm sorry but you won't be able to move. We're currently locked in the pyramid." The two didn't understand until they looked down to see that a drawn triangle lit up around them. "These millennium items have unbelievable power that these priests and priestess hadn't unlock yet. I'm going to limit their abilities and rid of the Zorc's connection to our world, but that requires a sacrifice. Omaira take care of Bakura. I will designate him as the time span for the seal after I leave."

"NO!" Bakura cried out! "I can't lose you! Nooooo!"

Omaira immediately walked over to Jono. "Even if you ask such a thing, I'm already an exile of this place. Your dragon powers give you a better chance of protecting him or protecting yourself since you must be immune to mere diseases, and it'll keep you on your feet. I'll sacrifice myself and you will be the designated name."

"Your soul isn-" The woman whacked his head.

"Don't talk back to me, boy. Do what I tell you." She looked over to the frightened piece of shit trying to break free from his bounds. "After this, Aknadin will lose his standing. He was always a man of pride who wanted to be far more acknowledged and superior to his older twin brother, but soon, he'll be nothing more than a name for the sake of stability in this wretched kingdom, and my king, that's only the start of our vengeance. I expect you to carry out the rest and have them take responsibility for the damned evil souls of our people and keep the next pharaoh in line so the Kul Elna massacre will never repeat. But for now, like your parents and Bakura's parents would tell you, create a home first." She kissed his forehead.

Jono understood, and Bakura walked up to him to hold his hand. The two boys looked at each other, and Jono could see that Bakura couldn't lose him, so he agreed to this arrangement. "Alright. But Bakura, after I'm done, the millennium puzzle will sent us far away from here, and we will create a home for the two of us, and then we will fulfill our revenge, okay?"

The little boy nodded. He hugged Omaira who kissed his lips as a sign of farewell before she placed her own hand on top of the millennium puzzle. Jono's blood flowed through the labyrinth of the puzzle while he whispered incantations that turned Omaira's body into pure golden energy that blanketed this fogged kingdom.

Zorc roared out for mercy, but traces of his soul vanished from the millennium items, and the kids were transported to an unknown area that was covered in so much alien vegetation, and the air was freezing. Older Jono explained that they had teleported to the opposite side of the world that was later to be known as Canada. He didn't know why they were sent there, but he guessed that it was because it was different but not drastically like the Antarctic.

Joey was surprised to see that the younger Jono still had the millennium puzzle and that the first thing he did was break it to pieces with his knee. He then created a bag out of the materials around him to carry it, and he was surprisingly knowledgeable on creating fur clothing for Bakura before they set off to find a place they could settle at.

As for Aknadin, the Older Jono explained that after the disaster, Aknamkanon privately gave his twin brother the choice of keeping an empty position or handing it over to someone else. Aknadin chose to keep his position, but he was never allowed to talk during meetings or do anything else other than use the eye when it was needed. The priests and priestess weren't against this after realizing the destruction that the priest damned them with. It may have saved their kingdom, but it came with the price of everything else possibly being destroyed by a demon god.

This isolation didn't become public since the pharaoh needed a strong court for his frightened people, that a fake millennium puzzle was forged. But after what went down, the people have come to fear and mistrusts them. Peace remained but with a chaotic tension.

Joey guessed that would be a satisfying result, but that came with the price of another family member dying. And then even after doing that, the kids face plenty of hardships to find their new home.

As children of thieves, they didn't feel at place in peaceful tribes, even if they were accepting of them. Yet, they weren't exactly thrilled being among savages either since they didn't have proper treatment of their children or what they did to the children of others. It was kind of hypocritical because many of the Kul Elna's bandits had their hands dyed in the blood of children. But after what went down in the end, they couldn't be blissfully ignorant anymore.

So instead of finding a village to settle at, they simply looked for a home of their own that they could live at. They tried to mind their own business as they traveled, but when they saw a crime or a growing problem that they couldn't ignore out of guilt, Jono and Bakura would deal with the ones responsible in whatever way they could. They told themselves and each other that they would stop doing it, but because it was a common occurrence no matter where they went, it practically became their job to travel and protect the helpless while correcting/destroying the corrupted villains.

Joey admired the way Jono remained strong throughout the journey, but he couldn't help feeling inferior. He wanted to be as strong as him at such a young age, but instead he was some punk and he still saw himself as one. If he had just been strong and honest to begin with, no one had to suffer.

Now with his face in the sand, he truly needed to confess about his inferiority. "I'm out. I can't do this anymore. I'm not strong like you. I can't be. Whenever I was in a pickle, I'd always settle it with violence. I'm not a diplomatic guy, and I can't see myself being one." He got on his knees. His shoulders drooping at the truth of his word. "I'll help you find your body, but I don't think I'll be able to succeed like you can." Red Eyes came over to him and nuzzled his cheek with a comforting purr. Joey smiled for him to see that his efforts weren't in vain, but they weren't enough to cheer him up either.

Jono told him as if it was obvious, "Of course not. You n' I were raised differently. While I was raised by a loving family, you were born under an abusive one. I was able to do what I could because I was taught confidence, love, and how to deal with assholes." He squatted down and cupped his cheek. Joey looked at him with puppy eyes. "But you Joey, you taught yourself. You took care of your little sister when your parents were hopeless because you naturally knew how to love. You protected the weak from their bullies because you naturally knew how to be compassionate. And you could've chosen to be a jerk and ignore Yugi, but instead, you had the confidence to be his friend." He cupped Joey's other cheek. "I don't know 'bout you, but the way you helped Yugi overcome his shyness, Mai overcome her loneliness, and gave other duelists strength because you reached out a hand to them, I see someone far stronger than any king or soldier." He pressed his forehead against Joey's.

The younger blonde blushed at the compliments. "Really?" He looked up at Jono's hazel eyes with hope like a child's. The teen had gone through life without a single adult other than gramps and some of his bosses at work complimenting him, but even Yugi's grandpa and those other guys didn't say it in such a deep way Jono did. He couldn't help regressing back to a child who needed affection.

"Isn't it obvious." The jawless man winked. "So don't be discouraged by my strength." He stood up and walked a few steps away before turning to him again. "Bakura was discouraged by it, too, but eventually you'll witness the time when we were separated by a witch in the country known as Poland today, I couldn't hold myself together. I needed him as much as he needed me."

"Kinda like how Kaiba needs Mokuba." Joey remembered the touching moment between the brothers back in duelist kingdom and the virtual world fiasco.

"Yes, but I wasn't a total jerk 'bout it." The two laughed. Then Jono said, "But that wasn't necessarily a good thing. We both knew that eventually we'd split journeys like you are doing with your friends for graduation. Yugi might not be able to be with you on your journey to find my body, so it's important that I teach you some independence and how to handle that temper of yours better."

Joey stood up, nodding in agreement. "I'm all ears!" He got back into fighting stance that Jono believed fitted him.

Jono got into his stance and he beckoned the male forward with a very familiar voice, "C'mon mutt."

The sound of Kaiba's voice was enough to get Joey riled up, and that was the start of his temper training.

._._._.

Bakura gasped for air as he tried to swim laps in a pool. His descendant Bast watched him struggle to break through the water's barriers, but even after three months of recovering from his revival, the former thief king appeared to still be too thin that he was exhausted after only swimming a lap. He tried to keep going, but his muscles ached for rest, and he was recklessly breathing in water.

Bast pulled him out with a thick strong grip that made his bony arms look like a twig. Bakura breathed heavily once he was dragged to the edge of the pool. Bast handed him a bottle of water, and he strained himself to grab it quickly for rehydration.

"Pathetic." He called himself.

The former soldier reasoned, "You were only discharged from the hospital a month ago. We live in a world where technology rules over magic, so you shouldn't get your hopes up of getting some magic elixir, grandfather."

Bakura looked down at his bony legs and growled at the disgusting sight. He also didn't appreciate the bad sense of humor. "Oh ha ha! If Jono was the one set free after that damn pharaoh finished his job, he'd be strong in a heartbeat!" He threw the bottle to the side, which got him a smack on the head.

Bast calmly chided him, "I understand your anger, but do not throw it around by doing such childish antics." She picked up the water bottle to give it back to him. "Concentrate that anger into passion to become a warrior fit to protect our true king for the third wave of darkness."

Bakura knew that, but it was still hard to take in the fact that Jono, the man who had gone through the worse for his sake, had been suffering for thousands of years! While that stupid pharaoh only lost him memories! It wasn't fair!

He wanted to break anything so he could feel complete, but he knew better that that wasn't going to help. He closed his eyes to prevent the tears from slipping through, reminding himself that Jono wasn't suffering anymore. He formed a connection with Joey, and through him, Bakura will find him. The former thief king then took a deep breath to feel the rage in his body condense into a passionate fantasy of Jono's pure happiness of being found. He breathed out, feeling himself a little more aspired and relaxed.

"You're right. I'm sorry. How is Joey and Ryou doing?" The two stood up to leave the gym after taking a trip to the locker room.

"Ryou is unaware of any of this occurring. And for Joey, we assume that Jono is preparing for the future battles. We are still leaving him alone, so he won't catch on to the 3rd Wave. We don't want to pressure him until he is ready."

"You keep talking about this 3rd wave. What is it and how can it be worse than Zorc?"

Bast explained, "After your death, your true love was approached by a woman named Coaxoch who told her about what happened to you and she had your body already mummified. She then told her about the prophecy that in 5,000 years, after the pharaoh had completed his fate, you will revive and be one of the warriors who will prevent the third wave of destruction. The first wave was with Atlantis."

"You mean the one with the leviathan dragon, I presume. Unfortunately, I still retain the memories of what Zorc had forced my reincarnation to do."

"Yes. Both of King Jono's past and present reincarnation defeated that. The second wave was with Zorc, and you should be able to see a pattern here."

"They're monsters who tried to destroy or rule the world, and could only be sealed before they could ultimately be defeated. Then this 3rd wave, are you telling me that the same thing will happen or it had happened before."

"It had happened before with King Jono. Before King Jono's ultimate death, he was thrown into fighting the 3rd wave alone against his wishes. And the best he could do in that situation was lock the monster away. But now someone or a group may be plotting to unlock it. For generations, your descendants had found such groups and disposed of them. But now that technology had evolved and magic became irrelevant, we try our best to adapt to the new ways."

"So you're telling me that this new group are..."

"Cyber terrorists."

"Oh. So instead of magic, they plan on using technology to free this beast."

"Correct. Yet you don't have much to worry about. Our family has the best experts in the field of technology."

"If they are as good as I've see the Kaiba family is, then I do feel reassured. But I must say that I'm surprised to hear that such a large family that are descendants of mine could be well groomed and connected with one another. Then again, I had the best woman to be the mother of my children." Bakura looked up to the sky wistfully. Two people who he loved the most were either dead or missing, and he could join neither until his own fate was in action or complete like the pharaoh's. This was truly karma in the works.

Yet, Bast told him with pure honesty, "She, King Jono, and you built a strong foundation for us. Despite being descendants of thieves, that heritage only helps us be less close minded to those troubled in our family. Take my appearance for example. I have no problem about it, but it had hindered my social opportunities. I was an outcast in the army for my appearance and gender. But thanks to the support of my family, I was able to finish my training and and field duties."

"And now you have to watch over a disgruntled old man such as myself." Bakura sarcastically joked.

And the woman played along without relenting her serious attitude, "If that means I can meet the true king. It will be worth it." The two exited the gym and entered a limo to reach their next destination. While they waited, Bast questioned, "I'm curious. What was King Jono truly like? I only hear about him being powerful and kingly, but what did he truly do."

Bakura chuckled, "If you had met Joey, then you would only be making wrong assumptions. That boy was who Jono was before my village was massacred. A complete clown who had a hard time learning, but was very earnest in trying. He had quite the temper when people insulted him, but he knew when to not throw his pride around. It made him easy to approach and relatable among bandits and children. My father deemed him fit to become the heir because of that. It meant to him that Jono had heart. And he was right. After the massacre, Jono took responsibility of me without question. He sacrificed what and who had to be sacrificed, especially himself, but he always knew his limits, especially when it came to lady luck. That goddess seemed to love him, and he took advantage of her love, and accepted her rejections without blame." He spoke metaphorically of fortune.

"Did he change into somebody else during your travels around the world?"

Bakura was amused by that question, "Who wouldn't. Jono was still an idiotic clown with a good heart, but he did become a lot more calculating with his actions. One time he seduced a king with his dancing, so he would behead one of his soldiers. That caused a domino effect that destroyed the king and create a new government system that was already in the works."

Bast looked both surprised and confused by the answer, "How can you still call him an idiot after completing such a feat?"

Bakura grinned. "It comes down to behavior. Jono did hold in a lot of wisdom and knowledge, but not without repeatedly starting out as a complete clueless dunce who made me laugh." The man began to speak mirthfully as good memories seeped through the corners of his mind. "Jono is a dangerous man to look out for, but he is human."

Bast watched her ancestor smile proudly from saying a mere word like "human" but she supposed being half dragon could challenge a person's humanity.

"For men in battle, too many come out scarred, and therapy had only came to known existence during the late 19th century. How did you two cope with the harsh world."

Bakura's eyes lost focus on Bast as they traveled through past memories. He answered as events flashed before his eyes, "When Jono and I started our travel through the continent of america, we encountered many tribes. We avoided them, not out of fear of them, but of ourselves. We were monsters."

As he spoke, Jono was speaking about it to Joey, too while he was making Joey's body do some sleep-yoga to improve his flexibility. The reincarnation had seen the memories, but it was another thing to hear how Jono thought about it. It gave that sort of realism that it was a genuine past that marked him. "Avoiding those villages were probably fer de best. We would've so awkward around de otha' children cuz of what we did." As sad as Jono smiled, his chuckle held a light feeling. "But like de fool I am, I can't ignore injustice to de little guy. At one of the villages, slaves were being mistreated. I couldn't ignore their cries. Bakura begged me to."

"I begged him not to save them, but he was submerged in his guilt. I felt the same, of course, but even at my own age, I knew the world wasn't black and white. People become slaves or thieves or commoners for their own reasons, and to do what is right, that comes down to what your culture deems it to be. If you stop a samurai from committing seppuku or preventing a spartan soldier to go back and reclaim his shield among the bloodshed, have you truly saved a soul or damned it."

"But pride meant nothing to me when it came down to treating others right." Jono looked up at the tiring blue skies with a glimmer in his golden ones. "You'd think dat a kid like meh who was once destined tah be king of de thieves shouldn't have such a personality flaw, but uncle Jibril thought otherwise."

Bakura looked down at the rug of the limo with a thoughtful expression, "My father wasn't one for pride either. It was the flaw that the thieves had that hurt their children the most with. I thought it was a dumb idea at the time, but the more I watched Jono, and see the inspiration and hope he bought into people, I saw why."

Bast, for the first time in three months, saw a warm smile on that troubled face.

"After our encounter with the Aztecs, we sailed off to the ocean for the first time. I was fearing for my life while Jono had fallen in love."

Joey found himself in a harmless memory where he was watching a fourteen-year-old Jono play with the sand on the beach and splashing water all over himself as if he was a little kid again. Even if it was freezing cold and the waves were rushing in, Jono was in a trance. Kid Bakura called him insane, and only received a goofy grin in return with laughter and a loud joyous cry to the heavens.

"My mama loved da sea." Jono told his cousin who was drawing hieroglyphs and other symbols that he's learned during their journey in the sand. "When she was sold to de pharaoh, she looked at the deserts and thought, 'Ah, have I reached where the edge of the world where not even the sea could reach?' Her father was actually a boat maker, and she made a few boats of her own before being taken away by the person who claimed to be her king. She taught my dad n' me how to make one, too. We actually planned to sail together before I became king..."

The little Bakura stared at his cousin who remained standing still inside the icy, rough waves that tried to push him down, but he was as touch as the sea stacks. "Big brother..." He called out timidly, but it caught the blonde's attention.

"Ah! No worries, my little brother." He walked out of the water and kissed Bakura on the cheek with vigor to show that he was alright. He sat next to him on the sand, letting his heart relax to speak frankly, "I am sad and...hurt. I want nothing more for it all to go away, but it seems to keep piling on now that we don't have an adult to help us know what to avoid and why." Bakura didn't speak a word. He just began making random tally marks into the grey sediment. Jono smiled at him, "You know, we're broken." That caught the grey-haired child's attention, his expression showing that he wasn't amused and surprised that Jono would admit such a thing. His older cousin held his smile. "Like a broken statue or glass or this bizarre thing called 'ice', we can't put ourselves together as if we never broke in the first place. Ah, but it ain't cuz we lost so much of ourselves. It's cuz we couldn't pick up everything from the floor. So you know what gotta do?"

Little Bakura didn't have a clue.

Jono grinned like an idiot when he answered, "We gotta make art with a story."

Everything stopped for Bakura who stared down at his older cousin who soaked his shoulder with his damp hair.

"Bakura, we're so ugly that we can't stand ourselves can we, but I love you and you..."

Bakura kissed his cheek as an answer.

Jono smiled.

"You love me, n' love's a beautiful thing. I want ta make art that'll display my ugliness, but also an art that'll make you beautiful. So let's make art, Bakura."

Jono intertwined his fingers with Bakura; a satisfied smile played on his lips. Bakura stared at their hands and frowned as his tears slipped away. Jono held him close to his chest and used his wings to shield his Bakura from the world.

The boy then began constructing a boat and taught Bakura how to do it, too. They worked together to finish it, and then set off to sail once they got their supplies inside. They sailed through the icy waters, but when a storm was coming, Jono carried the boat by its ropes and they sailed the clouds until they found a clearing.

Joey enjoyed watching their sea voyage which was a nice change of pace since there was less of a chance to encounter people. And while they sailed, the two boys were reminiscing of their last two years of being in America. They made sure to remind the other of what happened, correct the other if they make a mistake, and also tell the other what happened when the other was knocked out. Joey listened to their stories, and it felt odd because it gave off a different impression of how deep and complicated their journey was. They made it sound like it was an adventure instead of a pilgrimage. But when it came to the more heavier and scarring moments that truly shook their core, their voice carried emotions that they shouldn't have at such a young age.

It was a blessing to see the two finally relaxing and looking back, that they were able to move on and look forward to the future. They still plotted for vengeance, but for the mean time, they enjoyed just being alive and somewhere new.

Bakura in the present at the beach was writing in his journal of those adventures. Bast took a peek from over his shoulder and saw the gaps. The man explained, "They're for Jono to fill in."

._._._.

"This is a surprise." The history teacher looked down at the A+ mark he put down on Joey's essay. The boy usually got an average or slightly below average grade for all of his works that just barely got him by, but the teacher began noticing that the blond student was actually paying attention during his class and getting pretty high marks.

Unknown to many, Joey was at a reading book after book about history at a library on his free time. After seeing Jono and Bakura reach Asia and getting mixed in with the political and religious conflicts, Joey wanted to know more to understand the events. He found himself surprisingly invested in learning more, that he read books related to the event and even novels that enriched the experience of learning about the people in a more personal way.

At the teacher lounge, the P.E. teacher was also surprised the by the history teacher's mark. "Ah! He got an A?! No way! That Joey guy must've got someone to write it for him!" Hearing that infamous name, the other teachers crowded around.

The history teacher retorted frankly, "Actually, I believe it's his. There's a few grammatical mistakes, but no mistaking it, this is his writing style."

The math teacher let them know, "You know, Joey had been doing a lot better this semester. All that dueling he does, had improved his math skills. He's also actually pretty good with geometry if I apply construction work problems in his homework and tests, so I always make a special one for him."

During work at a construction site, Joey was applying the math he learned to assists the experts in fixing everything in the right order and sizes.

The literary teacher added, "Same here. If I don't assign romance or horror novels in my class, he actually turns in pretty decent papers, so I always make him the exception."

They looked to the science teacher who shrugged. "He actually aces my class."

At home, Joey was applying some chemical reactions to help clean and fix his house without having to buy the expensive products.

"What?! How?!" The P.E. teacher exclaimed.

The science teacher backed away a bit from the spit that came out. "He actually comes to me personally to learn about chemistry and whatnot to help himself at home." She then snapped at the P.E. teacher, "And you stop treating him like an idiot! We only tolerated your attitude towards him because you act no differently to any of your students, but right now, you are being an asshole. Joey isn't stupid by choice. On top of having to work to support his deadbeat father, he has ADHD. It's not severe, but it is a problem." The other teachers nodded.

The history teacher pointed out, "I was only surprised because it's his first A in my class. It's bad to say this, but since his father is out of the picture, he's doing a lot better."

The literary teacher figured, "Abused children do start to have higher self-esteem and a better organized life once they are away from their abusive parents. Someone must also be helping him with his ADHD problem because he's been more attentive, though sleeps when a lecture carries on for too long." She sighed.

"Whoever it is helping him, they have my thanks." The math teacher said, and the others besides the P.E. teacher nodded, and silently gave their thanks.

When it was time for the essays to be passed out, the history teacher gave them back alphabetically by last name as they walked out at the end of class. Joey was the last to leave, but the teacher held him back a bit to praise him for his good work, and smiled when he saw the tearing happiness on the boy's face.

Joey had to hug him before walking out. His friends noticed his pure joy, so asked what was up. Joey felt both proud yet shy to show them his very first A+! So he just told them that it was nothing as he put his folded paper in his jacket.

But when it was nighttime, Joey gushed about his essay to Jono who congratulated him, and celebrated by making Joey discover the secret tunnel slides at one of the ancient temples for the sea serpents. And had him taste the exotic food served there. It wouldn't make him full, but the taste were definitely amazing! He needed the recipe!

"I'm definitely gonna ace my finals and then graduation here I come baby!" Joey cheered with his Red Eyes squawking happily for him as they ate the fruits that were left extinct due to overeating or change of climate. "My GPA was really low, so I really needed to toughen up this semester! It's all thanks to your training, Jono, that I was able to pass!"

"Huh?" Jono looked up from his hammock. "I've been teachin' you how to be a warrior. I don't remember tryin' ta teach ya how to be a scholar."

"Yeah, but it's because you've been teachin' me how ta focus n' got me interested in history that I could get not just an A! But an A PLUS! I never got an A plus since my parents divorced. I had ta change schools n' get a job. I tried ta quit school once, but Mr. Gorba, he's a guy who owns an automobile shop, would only hire meh unless I went ta school. Could never quit then but doesn't mean I was any good."

"That's interesting. Nevah had a traditional education. I just threw Atem in challenging situations he had to think his way out of. He was such a clever child."

Hearing his old friend's name, Joey's ears perked. "So you really met Atem, and cuz of de promise ya made to Horakhty, you had to raise him. Did ya go back to Egypt when he was born."

"Nah. He was born three years after the massacre, but I didn't go back until six years later. Not counting the time Bakura n' I went back ta change de lock."

"SIX YEARS?! It took ya NINE YEARS ta find a home?!"

"We traveled around Asia for a good three years before heading to Europe for almost a year and a half. Then through India, we sailed over to the Southern side of Africa where we spent four years traveling through there. In the end -spoilers!- Bakura found his true love and we made a home before I went back to Egypt."

"You? Only you went back?"

"Bakura's true love was pregnant, so it couldn't be helped. We were living in a rain forest tropical paradise that was well protected from the more violent tribes. It was paradise." Jono sighed in bliss. "With the knowledge we learned from traveling around...it truly was a work of art." Jono smiled up at the sunny blue sky.

Joey stared at Jono. A part of him wanted to skip the traveling through Asia and Europe just so he could see how Bakura met his true love. "What was her name?"

Jono chuckled, "She had no name until I jokingly called her Bakura's true love because the two complimented each other very well. While Bakura was cynical, his true love was optimistic and motivated to force the good out of people. She was also witty. Always had a smart answer for all of his quips, and it annoyed him, but I could tell that he loved her. It was the first time he met anyone who could walk through his maze of an attitude, and look like she's having fun while doing it." The man grinned at the memory.

Joey let him enjoy his emotions before asking, "So why didn't she have a name?"

His past Egyptian incarnation smirked at him. "Now that's a spoiler I can't give you. I need you to look forward to the rest of the adventure. I actually got to learn how to do the acupuncture therapy from the very doctor of the emperor."

That sounded exciting, but Joey knew to be cautious, "No on is gonna get their head severed right."

Jono snorted, "No!...But you will witness how eunuchs are made."

Joey jumped over a cliff to get out of seeing that, but Jono wasn't so kind. Plus, the only way to be strong in life was to face ones nightmare.

The next day at school, his friends asked him why he looked like he had just witnessed a murder scene.

"I..." He swallowed as he tried to block out the horrifying image. "I saw a video where I guy got de...surgery ta be an eunuch before I knew...what I was getting myself into."

Tea was amused and horrified while Yugi was just horrified. Tristan was confused until he was explained of what they were, and he was in pure denial of the whole thing.

Joey regretted meeting Jono, but the experience definitely made him feel more humble.

._._._.

A ten-year-old Bakura looked down from a cliff to see the jagged rocks and violently rushing waves that scraped the rocks. A fifteen-year-old Jono was currently praying to a god that neither of them actually worshiped. However, it was necessary for the sake of the buried bodies that head wood crosses sticking out from the ground. The teenager then walked over to him.

"Little brother, it's time to go." He told him casually, but those words provoked tears out of the child's eyes.

"None of these people would've died if we hadn't been here." He sobbed, turning to his older cousin in anguish. "Everywhere we go, someone dies! We're cursed, Jono!"

Jono calmly reminded him, "Those monsters were destroying homes before we got here. We only got to their next stop faster because of my wings. It's the vikings' culture to steal land and provoke war. We didn't make them that way, Bakura. It was no different when we took down those pirates after crossing the sea."

Bakura knew that was true, but he was so tired. He was so tired of burying people! He didn't blink an eye when it was a common occurrence at Kul Elna because it was to be expected! But the people they currently buried were good people! Not every good person they met were killed, but when it happened, it was too much of a burden to bear no matter how little they have done this!

He hugged Jono hard, so his grief could be lifted. Even if it was a little.

Jono hugged him back firmly to reassure his little cousin that he wasn't going anywhere.

"I don't want to have vengeance anymore." Bakura confessed. Jono leaned back and knelled down for their eyes to meet face to face. The child confessed loudly over the coast winds, "We've seen what vengeance have done to people! We've heard the stories! Heard the moral speeches! And they had a point! We already shamed the man responsible into nothing, which is worse then death itself! You have the millennium puzzle pieces that helped you block the demon god from entering our worlds! You've done enough!"

"I still need to give you a home." Jono caressed his cheek, careful not to touch the healed scar given to him when he protected Jono. "And I need to see the vengeance that your aunt set through. I know..." He held Bakura's shoulders firmly. "I know that you're scared. It's okay to be. I'm scared, too. To be honest, I don't know if I am able to be someone who can forge a king that will do what's right."

"There's no such thing as a _**good king**_." Bakura stressed out. "Not the ones who rule a country of good people. When they look at good people, they look at them like slaves or no good merchandises! Father was the king of thieves and he bought about more peace and change than any king or dictator or chief or some fake god we've ever met! You are a king, Jono." He felt his heart ache at the reminder. He put Jono's hand back onto his cheek, letting him feel his scar. "You are a great king."

Jono swallowed the lump in his throat as his eyes welled up. Kul Elna's massacre was only three years ago, and they still felt damaged by its aftermath.

"I already failed the moment these claws killed our friends and family. The King of Kul Elna does not kill his children." The teen set straight that he wasn't a good king, but Bakura swallowed his feelings to retort, "They were already dead when they transformed. We were no different."

Jono clenched his eyes, hating that justification, but it was true. Neither of them were prepared to handle the black magic that invaded their lands.

The teen swallowed gulps of air while he remembered the teachings of many cultures they've experienced. There was only one solution to their grief and that was forgiveness. Jono held Bakura close again to not feel alone in this journey. "You forgave me so many times, Bakura, and I've forgiven you. We must forgive ourselves, but in order for us to truly move on, we must either forgive those who did us wrong or carry out a punishment to the end." His eyes turned bright red. "And we both know that if you forgive, it will happen again."

Bakura knew that meant that Jono will continue to carry on their vengeance despite his rejections and reasons. And a part of him truly did want to carry out the vengeance to the end, but not at the price of losing all he had left.

The two walked over to the graces to give their final goodbye before they continued on their journey eastward, and then made camp before night came.

By the fire, the boys stared at the flames as they reflected what happened earlier. "Bakura," Jono called out to him.

"Yes, big brother." Bakura answered affectionately.

"Why'dya say I am a good king?" The older boy spoke with a more relaxed tone that his lazy accent returned. "I haven't ruled anyone."

The smarter of the two answered, "I meant that you are a good leader. No matter where we went, you always engaged with anyone we spoke to. While I'm always shy or scared, you walk up to a man holding an axe and talk to him like a human being. It's easy for people to make monsters from a person's appearance, but it takes someone extraordinary to see a person first."

"Dat big axe guy did look like he had mean business ta spare n' I did think he was a no-good man, but askin' fer directions wouldn't get meh killed."

"I guess I am giving you more credit than you deserve, but the point I'm making is that you can become socialize with anyone and if that axe guy did try to cut you down, you would've handled the situation and teach him a lesson. Every since we," He used a word from another language to call the action they did, "...teleported away from Egypt, I have been thinking of what makes a good leader."

"And what's that?"

"From observing all the leaders that we've encountered, which helped form the basis of my opinion, I can conclude that-" Bakura paused when he saw the complete lost look on his older cousin's face. He just continued, "A good leader has three qualities."

"Three qualities?"

"The first is that a good leader is actively engage with someone without appearing fake or manipulative. I already said that you do that. You're always honest and earnest, but you don't allow someone to fool you. People underestimate you Jono, which you used to your advantage, and when you are truly serious, they will want to follow you. Just like how you led that army who thought they didn't have a chance, but thanks to you, they won."

"I only won because of their strategies and the bravery that had from the beginning." Jono pointed out in the army's defense.

"And there is my other point. It's one thing to allure people to be engaged with you in the moment, but it's another to actually listen and take something from it. You're not the best at anything, but the second quality of a good leader that you do have is that you bring out the best in anyone and use whatever is around you. A good leader should never only focus on himself and think that he has to solve it on his own. That just makes things needlessly difficult and leave those who want to help feel unneeded. It just makes me think back to that stupid adventure we had back at that island!" Bakura growled!

Jono lightly calmed him down, "Hey, hey, it worked out for the best didn't it."

"BUT ALL THAT DRAMA WAS ENTIRELY UNNECESSARY!" He growled again, but Jono's hand softly patting his back helped soothe his irritation. "And the third one is your strong will. You can be sociable, but without the bravery and the will to carry out your actions, then everything becomes a disaster. Maybe the army would've lost in the end, but at least they tried, and you were with them to the end. Nobody dies in vain when you lead. The people we've buried didn't die in vain."

Jono stared down at Bakura in surprise and wonder. His hazel eyes then softly looked down at him. He pulled Bakura closer to him and kissed the corner of his forehead. "You make it sound like you didn't have a part in all that. You were really brave when you helped lead those people to safety while we fought and protected them when the soldiers came. And who was it that ran across the dangerous mountains to send an important message to ensure our victory."

"That's because you inspire me." Bakura answered as if that was obvious, that Jono blushed deeply at the compliment. "You rely on me even when you knew that you didn't want me to get hurt. You would worry when you thought I was hurt and cry so much when I was. But even when it kills you to let me try, you let me do it. Thank you for believing in me." Bakura kissed Jono's lips to show his appreciation.

Jono frowned at the memories of all those times Bakura had been thrown in the chaos, but the boy was so smart that he could get himself out of it. Maybe not perfectly spotless at the end, but he came out stronger than ever, and that's what Bakura had to be, so he could live happily knowing he fought for his right to live.

"Our parents taught me that, so I'm teaching you." Jono had Bakura press his back against his torso while they continued to watch the flame. "So a good leader is someone who is good with the people, and can carry out their duty to the end thanks to their cleverness or the cleverness of his people. That sounds like a great leader."

"You are one." Bakura pressed the title onto him. "You leave an impression of good will and strength, that I hope will continue to live on in the hearts of the many people you saved. When you do go to Egypt to raise the new king, you will succeed." The child closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Jono spread out his wings to protect them from the chilly winds of night after he put out the fire. He looked up at the sky with his reddened eyes, then he looked to the left to see Horakhty in her human-sized form.

She reported to him, "The heir is born."

Jono frowned at the news. "Thank you." He looked away as the goddess disappeared. He closed his eyes to sleep, too.

The older Jono opened his eyes to see nothing but the deserts before him. The thirty-one-year-old male just whispered, "Bakura."

The twenty-six-year-old Bakura opened his eyes at the break of dawn and whispered, "Jono."

._._._.

Joey was feeling stoke because he was going through the questions for the finals with more ease. He felt silly for being worried in the first place. Joey could finish the math section easily since he had his handy calculator and the questions were structured to suit him. He then finished the science portion without too much difficulty since he just had to remember his home remedy cleaning products and the lab works. He struggled a bit with the literature part because that was always bias. History was a breeze with the multiple choices and short answers. He got it all down before the two-hour mark, so he thought he could use the extra time to polish his precious duel disk, but that quickly got it confiscated.

His friends immediately assumed that he did that because he gave up on the finals altogether. Joey tried to correct them, but his comical anger at silly moments like these didn't convince them. He didn't really care anyway. He was loved for being the lovable goof, so he didn't push.

But that was the least important thing to him. It was finally half a year since Joey met Jono, and the teen got around buying him his own deck, so the two could duel together. Jono inspected the duel disk that Joey thought up with the sand. He took a look at his cards to see that they were worldwide themed, meaning that different cards inspired by different cultures were his.

"I got Odion and my other friends from across the sea to help me choose them!" Joey told him excitedly. "What'dya think?"

"If I had a lower jaw, I'd smile." He looked at what each of them could do, and Joey didn't look at them because that made their duel even more exciting. While Jono did, he questioned, "So how was your finals?"

Joey's whole face lit up as if he's been expecting that question, but tried to calm himself as he announced, "I think I aced it!"

Jono's own face lit up at the answer. "That's amazing! Was it difficult? I never had to do these written exams since it was...well Egypt."

Joey silently chuckled. "Not really. The reading and writing part was hard cuz I'm not really into English, but I think I did pretty good. I know fer sure that I aced the history and math portions! Some science questions were tricky though cuz it's all in de details, y'know. If you don't know de whole thing from scratch, ya gonna make something completely different."

"Society truly has come a long way." Jono whistled out in an impressed tune. "We should definitely celebrate!"

"Let's have a duel!" Joey already had his own activated.

Jono chuckled a little louder. He activated his, and through Joey's memories, had a pretty good idea of how to play the game. "I guess de saying goes," He deepened his voice, "It's time to DUEL!"

"Yeah! And since it's yur first time, I'm gonna go easy on you! Let's duel!"

After a few rounds where Joey won them all, Jono dropped to his bottom on the sand. "Aaaaah, dueling is harder than I thought!"

"Yeah," Joey sat down next to him. "I lost to Yugi and Tea in all of our duels, but once ya get a hang of it, you'll get better."

Jono pouted at his duel disk, "I actually don't like dueling."

His reincarnation was shocked, "Ha?! You don't! But dueling is the funnest game! It's a game that challenges you and you built a close relationship with your deck!"

"It's just not fer me. N' I don't have de best of memories with dueling."

Joey was confused until he remembered where dueling originated. "Oh...sorry, man. I forgot."

Jono snorted, "It's alright, Joey." He patted the boy's shoulder and shook him a bit to show that he was well and still liked him. "This game is watered down compared to de real version. Granted it killed some people, but at least it didn't kill a nation."

"Still...I should've known better. I just got so excited to play with you because I got to meet a lot of my friends because of it. Granted a lot of them were jerks ta begin with, but hey, I'm a jerk..." Joey folded his lips as he looked down in guilt. "You're really special to me, Jono. I thought I understood how deep Atem and Yugi's relationship was, but after meeting you, I get it a lot now. Being with you..." He looked at Jono to see the same hazel eyes that hid gold underneath the dirt. "I feel more confident than ever."

Jono looked at his reincarnation with an adoring look. He placed his warm forehead against his, and said, "I'm happy to know we share the same heart, Joey."

Joey closed his eyes, submerging himself into this love that he never felt before. "You're like a brother ta me, Jono, but also...like a dad to me." The blonde clenched his eyes as he winced for saying something so awkward, but he braced himself to finally confess his feelings, "We might not see each otha' daily, but just seein' each otha' at all makes me feel like de luckiest guy in de world. When something good happens, I want you to be de first to tell. When something bad happens, I want ta talk to you, no matter how personal it is. And I knew that it was because I felt like I was having a dad fer de first time in a long time. There was so much I wanted ta celebrate n' learn from him, but..." He teared up and Jono held him close so tightly that Joey could feel his bony ribs and the hole against his chest.

The two remained that way for the rest of the night with Red Eyes using his wings as their shade, and his body as their hard pillow.

The next time they met, the three of them ate delicious food that Bakura's true love would cook up.

"So how are your friends?" Jono asked.

"They're great! Tea's heading to New York. Yugi plans on making his own game! And Tristan is going to work at his dad's factory. It might not be what he wants, but hey, if he truly wanted ta be somethin' he'd be it. Duke's dice game is still sellin' around de globe n' helpin' his dad out with his food truck. Nice guy if ya ain't afraid of clowns or old men, but I don't get why he uses a dog fer a mascot! Like I've been wonderin' if Duke had dat dog suit he made me wear years ago bought just fer his scheme against Yugi, but turns out his dad has a full room filled with a heck ton of costumes!"

Jono's eyes gleamed proudly in a way that made Joey feel something weird in his chest. It felt like a good but odd feeling. "And you?"

"Oh me! I plan on turnin' pro! I got really inspired by what ya said when I thought about quittin' de training. Ya said that I reach out ta otha' duelists n' ya know what, I like doin' dat! I wanna meet even more strong duelists, get ta know dem, n' have a blast y'know."

"That sounds really good, but y'know dat if you turn somethin' ya love into a job, it gets bothersome. What with how your manager and sponsors will make you work for something as meaningless as fame." As a king who went around making a difference, but forgotten in history, fame really wasn't anything to him.

"Yeah, that'll be a pain, but I'm a duelist at heart." He softly smiled at the fact. His hazel eyes glimmering for the future, "And there'll be charities I'll be supportin' if I turn pro n' that's what I want to do! I used ta think makin' a name was important, but I realized dat I wanna duel so I can help people get on their feet n' have fun together!"

Jono proudly commented, "You will become a fantastic duelist. It makes me realize I never truly had a dream in my life time." He sadly smiled at the fact.

"What? Really? But your dream was to form a home with Bakura wasn't it."

"That was more of a necessity instead of a dream. The two of us thought of survival and nothing else. But a dream...A dream is an inspiration. A path you wish or plan to walk. I only walked paths I had to. Never an I want to. But knowing now that in my next life that I have such a beautiful dream, I'm truly happy." Jono put down his card and held Joey in a hug with Red Eyes joining in. The teen didn't hesitate to hug back after doing it so many times.

"I won't let you down." Joey promised as they let go.

Jono looked down at his younger self lovingly, "I know you won't."

Red Eyes squawked to show his own passion, and that got him some cuddles and kisses from both males.

The King then asked, "So what about the others? What does Ryou plan to do?"

"Ryou said dat he's gonna be an archaeologist like Yugi's gramps. And gramps was more den willin' te help de guy get into a program ta excavate or somethin'."

"Wow, I'm so proud of him. Bakura was into learning about the different cultures around us. He'll definitely have a good time."

"Definitely! And Kaiba n' Mokuba already has their careers settled n' I'm not proud of workin' at their cafe, but need da money, y'know. Oh! And there's this other guy I think I'm friends with. I think his name was Aigami."

"Aigami?" Jono's brows furrowed at the unfamiliar name.

"Uh yeah...Aigami. We've been friends for a while. Or I think..." Joey knew something was off, but he couldn't quite piece it.

Jono's eyes turned red, clearly showing his distrust for the information. "You weren't. I've seen your memories, Joey, and Aigami hadn't existed until now."

That freaked out the teen. "What'dya mean? I..." He looked into his gut, and it definitely wasn't a positive feeling. "Wait, don't tell me I was tricked or something!"

Jono sighed. It truly was frustrating having such limited contact that he couldn't help his reincarnation. "I can't tell, but be wary of this Aigami guy, Joey. He had the power to mess with you and your friends' minds. You should have your guard up but don't be obvious like how I taught you."

Joey didn't understand the true threat, but he knew that he had to keep himself on his toes. "I will. We're going to hang out at Yugi's, so I'll keep an eye out fer him." Jono's red eyes dimmed down to worried hazels. The older man gently took a hold of Joey's head and pressed the upper lips he had on Joey's eyelids as if he was kissing them. "What was that for?"

The ancient spirit answered, "Good luck, but I don't think that you're going to need it since you'll be with friends."

Joey was confused for a moment until he realized that Jono meant that he wasn't alone for whatever Aigami had cooking up. He grinned proudly at the fact, and the two engaged in training combat again. Joey soon woke up after that, and he went off to see Aigami who held a weird cube in his hand. He played it cool around this stranger to not make him suspicious while he called Yugi to know that they were heading over. Ryou soon joined them while he was on the call, and everything was fine after he hung up. However, it quickly turned strange when Ryou's father was mentioned. The poor guy began to experience some sort of PTSD and the world changed around them.

Joey tried to beat Aigami out of doing whatever he was doing, but instead he found himself stuck within an alternate dimension of his reality that was created by his memories alone. That was a bad thing because apparently his reality was stable because he had other people's realities holding it that way. Now that he was alone, everything was disappearing until his death.

Joey tried to search for a way out. He mentally called out to Jono, but he quickly remembered that they cannot connect so soon again, so he was on his own. He tried to hang on for hours even when his own body was dissolving into nothing. However, despite how strong his will was, he fell to the ground. He didn't want this to end, but seeing possible way out anymore, he reluctantly accepted his fate as the last shreds of his memories disappeared.

Unknown to him, someone was watching, and he bought forth the image of Seto's Atem before him to save his life. Joey's eyes widened at the miraculous appearance of his dead friend.

"A...Atem?"

Joey suddenly found his whole world recreated into the bright Domino City that he knew during the day, and the Atem he knew remained standing before him. But someone else was there, too, behind him. Joey turned around to find a child of green hair facing away from him.

"You should get back to your friends." He said.

That voice was recognizable, "Wait, aren't you-"

Joey suddenly found himself bought back to the real reality, and he was back with his friends. He was relieved to see them and proudly declared that they were the reasons that he survived Diva's shadow game! And that him and his friends were going to get Bakura back before the guy fled. The four of them went off to search for Bakura, but before Yugi left, Joey had to thank him.

He didn't know who that green haired kid was, but he knew that if it weren't for Yugi, then every memory he held precious wouldn't exist. There was his childhood memories with Serenity, but those were bittersweet. The adventures he had with Yugi, especially the ones he had with Serenity being by his side, they were priceless.

"Wanna say...Thank you...That's all." He bashfully ran away, and found where his bike was parked with his duel disk still there, drenched in the rain. He took out his waterproof deck to look down at Red Eyes. He frowned after what he just experienced, but he smiled for his dragon. "Almost died there, buddy, but don't worry. I'm not leavin' anywhere. Not when my friends and Jono need me." He then thought about the green haired kid.

After this whole fiasco blew over with Bakura returning and Atem only doing so temporarily, Joey explained everything that happened to Jono even though he could just look at his memories.

"Atem came back, Jono! He really came back when we most needed him, and I didn't get ta see what happened cuz I blacked out, and now that the millennium puzzle n' ring is gone fer good, I'll never have dat second chance, but just de fact he came back to save us..." Joey wanted to remain excited, but he found himself falling back into grief. He lowered his head, keeping a small smile. "He really is lookin' out fer us. And when I help you, Jono, you two will get ta live in peace ta'gether! Atem will forgive Bakura, too, so you guys can get along!"

Jono's eyes glimmered sadly. "Maybe. Fate can be cruel, Joey, and if the shadow realm will drag Bakura back fer his association with Zorc, den I'll gladly switch places with him." Then his voice became smooth and hypnotic as if he was speaking a lovely curse that's been repeated many times,

"No matter who I come to love in the future or past, the only person who I will ever choose, whether he likes it or not, is him."

Joey stared at the man who closed his eyes silently. Having seen his memories, Joey understood. However, he couldn't exactly empathize since he held too many people precious to him. Yet, if he truly had to pick who was at the top, it would obviously be Serenity.

Then Jono switched the conversation, "I saw someone else in your memories. By your reaction, he is someone you knew."

The sand formed only the back of the green haired person who Joey saw. The baby-sized Red Eyes climbed the statue to see nothing but sand on the front.

Joey answered, "Uh...yeah. But it can't be possible. He died back at Battle City." He walked around the sand to properly form the face from his subconscious memories. "Noah Kaiba. He was de one who trapped us in his virtual world and set off that missile, but he also helped us get out n' dat missile helped take down that freak, Gozaburo."

Jono took a look at the boy as he recollected. "From your memories, he died in a virtual world with his dad. But what I've learned about technology is that it can be tricky. He might've downloaded himself into another mainframe or sent a copy. Are you sure he's dead?"

Joey thought about it for a second. "I guess I don't. But why now? Why did Noah save me?" Jono shrugged, so Joey thought a bit harder. "I guess...it's because he thinks I'm Mokuba's friend, but dat still doesn't answer how he was able to do it." The younger blonde scratched his head.

"Maybe you can talk to Mokuba about it."

Joey immediately felt uncomfortable. "I don't know...That's a pretty sensitive topic ta talk about. Mokuba was pretty sad when he died, and we never talked about it again since. I don't wanna give de little guy hope, y'know."

"I understand. We can leave dat little mystery on the shelf for now. Besides, if he is alive, he'd find a way to contact Mokuba."

That cheered up the teen. "Yeah! You're right! He was a wizard in his world n' if it was him savin' me in another alternate dimension, then doin' something like dat would be a hoot fer him! I hope I'd get ta meet de guy, too! I owe him big time!" Joey felt pumped up. "A'right! Let's get dis started! Hit meh with ya best shot!"

"My best shot tonight is seeing the fourteen year old me being turned into a gladiator being prostituted before I led a great rebellion that led to the death of savage dictator who didn't do his job."

Joey's adrenaline drained out of him. "Uh..."

While Joey dreamed of Rome, his television flicked on and off with static that made out a weird distinct shape. Multiple arms stretched out from the screen; one of their hands wrapping itself around his throat. However, someone from the shadows appeared and used a khopesh that elicited electricity to draw them back into the screen. The stranger then called in Bast who answered, "Bast."

"El Sayed," The stranger referred to the ex-military soldier, "You were right. This new 3rd wave group tried to use the television to kill Mr. Wheeler. I don't know how, but they had elongated arms try to choke him, but I was able to stop them."

"I feared this. Magic have been used for years, so its easy to know the tricks, but technology is still relevantly new and being upgraded within seconds. This group must have a tech genius in their hands. I'm contacting our special agency to find all of the tech geniuses around the world and check them. Good job, Jaydra. Continue guarding him." She hung up her phone while looking down at her second phone.

Bakura who was present at the table while they had their meal questioned, "Who was that?"

"One of my soldiers that I tasked in watching Joey. I have a whole squad guarding him. He had just been attacked in his sleep, but he wasn't disturbed thanks to her."

"They found out already?" It was half a year, but Bast had boasted about his descendants, that he truly believed they had everything under control. Bakura actually hadn't met any of his family members since he was discharged from the hospital. Bast explained that the family's leader, Tawaret thought it was best that he looked his best in front of them. And Bakura was thankful because he didn't want to look like an actual crippled grandfather in front of his family. He died in his mid-to-late twenties, so he revived in that age, and wanted to look the part.

The soldier answered, "We've done research, and it appears that the quantum cube fought against Kaiba's duel link solid vision system, which connects to the entire data network collected from all over the world. The technology and the cube collected data off each other, and the corporation had taken custody of the item. Joey's memories were affected by the cube temporarily, but it must've been enough for the mysterious 3rd wave to locate him."

"That means there's either an intruder or a traitor in the company, but that also means that you could possibly locate the person responsible or at least the source."

"They're already on it. You should know we also have a team sent within the internet, so trust me when I tell you, we leave no stone left unturned. But sadly, despite how prepared we always are, there will always be casualties." Bakura saw an evident sadness in the cold-eyed soldier. It was quite the endearing sight for someone so strong.

"So there's a chance that this 3rd wave will catch Joey."

"No. It's the wildcard of fate that we worry for." Bast no longer felt hungry so she put her food down on the ground for her dogs to finish for her. "Have faith in us grandfather, but know that we are only like a breakwater who can protect the goal, but not without providing consequences."

Bakura held her hand. "I understand." He squeezed it when Jono came to his mind. He clenched his eyes shut and gritted his teeth. "I know."


End file.
